A Triumph for 74 year old Director and Star......CLINT EASTWOOD

Rating: Null/10 (25 January 2005)

Take a sports drama and litter it with every cliché in the book then let the great Clint Eastwood surprise the audience as he manages to deliver a highly satisfying, original, thought provoking film. Despite containing some of the most realistic fight sequences I've seen, this is not a film about boxing, it's about loneliness, redemption and achievement, something that brings together three characters played by Eastwood, Hilary Swank and Morgan Freeman.
Eastwood displays his emotional side something he touched upon in UNFORGIVEN, IN THE LINE OF FIRE & BRIDGES OF MADISON COUNTY, but here he excels in one of the most moving performance's of his career, he directs with pace and flair but never over indulges with style. He also composed the beautiful score, a talent many movie fans don't know about(he also wrote the theme alongside regular collaborator Lennie Niehaus for UNFORGIVEN).
Freeman is excellent (as usual) in a role not too dissimilar to that in SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION and let's not forget the lovely MILLION DOLLAR BABY herself Hilary Swank, she gained an Oscar five years ago for BOYS DON'T CRY but never achieved star status...hopefully this movie will change that.
This is as good as mainstream Hollywood can get and Legend Eastwood doesn't need big budgets to please a Cinema audience and with his 75th birthday in May approaching he shows no signs of stopping.