Heaven & hell in the ring

Rating: Null/10 (23 February 2006)

Million Dollar Baby is a pretty straight forward, simple story that people interested in films have likely seen a number of times before. It is, if you will, an old school Hollywood movie. No fancy computer generated effects, no loud music, no fast cuts. More concentrated on the story and acting, it's goals are certainly admirable.
The first half, let's call it heaven, is near overblown in how conveniently everything just falls to the right place, yes, even the very early goings where Clint does his typical 'no, i'm not interested' routine. The second half, call it hell, not entirely surprisingly, is where you really get the almighty Academy's attention. A lot of pain, suffering, crying and ill-turned relations are involved. Even Clint does a crying scene, which sort of surprised me despite the subject matter, after all, wasn't he the guy who during the filming of The Bridges of Madison County said 'they don't wanna see me cry' to his co-star Meryl Streep. All and all, it didn't raise as much emotions in me as it probably was meant to. I wasn't gripping my pillow weeping, or eating the fifth bucket of ice cream by the end of it. Later on during the day i was mumbling a theory while preparing salad, saying to myself, 'what if the story was purposely told in an overblown fashion, because it is after all coming from an individual's memory of the events...usually memory tends to make things just that little bit grander.'
It's the acting that raises the level of this film. Without the great work of Clint Eastwood, Hilary Swank, and especially Morgan Freeman who has only been better than here once during his career, in a movie called Shawshank Redemption, this film would have been just as average as the average guy on the morning bus. Mr. Freeman certainly surpasses the pointless character from his previous collaboration with Eastwood, Unforgiven. Hilary Swank is a very able actor as well, and i wish her a great career. Thanks to the good acting, Million Dollar Baby manages to lift itself barely out from the Swamp of the Abandoned Blue Jeans, where everything looks alike. Maggie's family was just extreme stereotypia, and the most annoying part in the entire run.
From the technical aspects Million Dollar Baby does not bring anything new or exciting to the table. Clint uses shadows a lot to create atmosphere, but at times (in the gym where first Dupris then Dunn step out of the shadows exactly the same corny way to teach all sorts of wise lines to Maggie) it gets borderline silly.
rating: 5/10 - OK