Astonishingly bad, insult to viewers' intelligence

Rating: 2/10 (27 February 2005)

Critics and audiences alike should be ashamed for heaping praise on the makers of this movie. Not only is it overrated, it is flat-out bad. Clint and his screenwriter, Paul Haggis, botch both halves of this manipulative story. The first half shows no respect or even knowledge of the sport of boxing. The gym scenes and training scenes are cursory at best and make Rocky look like the pinnacle of realism. Also, no amount of natural boxing talent allows a 130 pound fighter to pull of early round knockouts every time out. IT DOES NOT HAPPEN in men or women's boxing. But let's just say we can write off the boxing elements as Hollywood shorthand, the characterizations and dramatic thrust of the film are equally stilted and unbalanced. This film should be more complex emotionally than it is. The main characters are made to look way too righteous and everyone else is unfeeling scum, even the priest. How ridiculous is the white trash family caricature? Why does Swank have to fall at the hands of a sucker-punch by a monstrous cheater of an opponent? Do we really need to see Morgan Freeman knock out Danger's taunter? Of course we do because that's the kind of filmmaker Clint Eastwood is. He believes in stacked decks and simplistic portrayals of good vs. evil. Go out and rent The Gauntlet, Pale Rider, Blood Work, Sudden Impact, and other Eastwood films for more examples of his boneheaded approach to humanity. (Mystic River manages to escape ridiculous simplicity thanks in large part to the very talented screenwriter Brian Helgeland.) That kind of attitude can be fun, like in the Dirty Harry films, but in MDB it adds up to cheap, unearned pathos that is practically begging to be recognized by the academy as something important. It's not important or even moving-it's laughable. It's like a hard sell for tears-anyone with any sense ain't buying it.