Ready-built for tragedy

Rating: 5/10 (9 March 2005)

Clint Eastwood's directorial career has brought forth some very spotty pictures; when he loses his dryly-askew sense of humor, Eastwood becomes a muddled, one-dimensional filmmaker. "Million Dollar Baby" is much better than "Mystic River" in that it features sympathetic characters, multi-layered performances and an intriguing scenario that doesn't initially seem to follow a by-the-numbers formula. By the second-half however, both the script and Eastwood's agendas change drastically (not from a boxing movie into a character study, that would be too easy; it becomes something even more sentimental). It's certainly easy for the viewer to flow with the changes: Eastwood's professionalism provides a smooth contrast in moods and scenario. However, it's a disappointing right-turn that the story takes, and nothing is really done with the new venue anyway. It seems to say that life is rough--for the female boxer, for the manager, for the assistant, and for the (God help us) spindly-legged mental kid who hangs out at the gym (in a gratuitous subplot designed to give mentor Morgan Freeman a few extra scenes). An occasionally unpleasant and queasy picture with built-in pathos and over-the-top writing, the movie takes a good while to get cooking, but does provide some solid drama. Eastwood never lapses into soap opera; he's an intelligent and caring actor-director (while also providing somber, quietly effective mood music on the soundtrack). However, the assembly-line progression of situations are disappointingly trotted out and, even though the finale is moving, the set-up for it is almost mechanical. ** from ****