Pretty good, but far from great

Rating: 6/10 (10 January 2006)

I'm not sure if this film's critical success stems more from a decline in film-making in general or Hollywood's love of Clint Eastwood. Heck, I love Eastwood. I also love Hillary Swank and Morgan Freeman, they are huge talents. However, this was a formulaic movie, very predictable in parts. You can almost see the numbers as Eastwood paints them in. This does not diminish from the fact that you have solid actors working hard. However, some of the supporting cast strains credibility, no more so than the family of Maggie's, who plays bad as one-dimensional as you can. And some of the boxing material is also a stretch. A fairly unknown female boxer a year into her career is fighting for a million dollar purse? Don't think so. Perhaps my review would be more positive if this film was not so highly rated, but it is, and I am not sure why.