It sure got heart...

Rating: 7/10 (11 September 2005)

** SPOILER ALERT **
Recap: No fighter with just heart is going to win anything. I think it was those words that introduced us to the movie. Frankie Dunn, an old boxing trainer has just led his protégé, Big Willie, to victory and a championship match might be near. Dunn is reluctant though, and finally, Big Willie leaves for another manager. One day, Maggie Fitzgerald turns up at the gym, asking for Dunn to be her trainer. He refuses, but lets her train at the gym, since she paid for six months training in advance, and the gym needs the money badly. But at the gym works an old retired boxer, Eddie Scrap-Iron Dupuis, or Scrap in short, gives the girl some hints. Dunn, still reluctant, sees her progressing and finally he concedes and becomes her trainer. Maggie got talent and patience, and finally it pays off. She quickly makes a name for herself, Mo Cuiishle, a nick name given to her by Dunn. Finally, she gets her championship match, but now the competition is though, will she make it?
Comment: At the start, I didn't think I would like this move very much. But it has, like the three main characters Dunn, Maggie and Scrap, a big heart and when it was time for the championship match, I found that I actually did care. Both Eastwood and Freeman is starting to get old, but they still can act and act well. So does Swank, though she's not that old yet. One could actually divide the movie into two halves, as it has a break (literally) in the middle. The first half deals with the training and boxing, and the way to the championship match. It is the part I liked best, because it was there I found the most heart, the most joy, and the will to take the next step. Such feelings are infectious. The second half is much more about humanity, relations and almost another story. The heart and joy (quite naturally) was lost, and even if it was interesting and joy was exchanged to sorrow and concern, it never got as good as the first part. One should say though that it didn't end like I thought it would at the start of the movie, and in a movie that's almost always positive. Though the story now is very different, the acting is still very good, I think especially Eastwood gives a good performance. One final thought though, I believe the movie treads on thin ice, considering the end (I'll try not to reveal it). I felt Dunn got something of a hero label, that one should be very careful to hand out, as it concerns a very difficult matter. I won't judge one or the other way, just note the above. But maybe that's another good thing about the movie, it actually made me think about some serious and difficult matters, I hope I was not the only one to do so...
7/10