Great Cast, Over the Top Plot

Rating: Null/10 (6 February 2005)

SPOILERS I also went to see this film based on its popular and critical reviews. There were elements that I thought were great, but other very weak aspects of the film. The cast was solid, and I am a fan of all three leads: Hilary Swank, Clint Eastwood, and Morgan Freeman. However, sometimes the characters that they portrayed seemed like caricatures. I like my characters a little more complicated. Eastwood's character was a bit formulaic and overly stoic, but at least multi-dimensional. I did enjoy that they kept his "unforgiveable sin" against his daughter a secret, and the fact that he was not actually lying to the priest about the letters. However, while I thought Swank did a terrific job, the character she was given was somewhat flat. She was ever the scrappy, spunky heart-of-gold girl from the wrong side of the tracks, optimistic and just trying to help her poor momma despite years of psychological abuse. It might have been more interesting to see her struggle a bit more with self doubt or anger over her past (the scene in the hospital seemed like an afterthought). The fact that she completely lost her spark at the end was never adequately explained.
I enjoyed the realism of the boxing scenes, although there were times when I had to look away until the blood and guts were over. One thing that I liked about those scenes was the depiction of the audience as often very "sophisticated" well-dressed wealthy people watching the "trash" boxers beat each other into a pulp as though they were watching a dog fight.
There were some very heavy handed plot elements, and I prefer a little more ambiguity and complexity. The foreshadowing was overdone. As soon as I heard her tell the story of her father's dog, I knew the film would end with one or the other of them performing euthanasia. And you could always tell when an emotional moment was coming because the soundtrack would start into some kind of low bass kettle drum roll. A bit over the top. The portrayal of Maggie's family was truly cartoonish, as were the denizens of the gym. And the whole lost-father-lost-daughter schtick was way too heavy-handed.
Overall, I thought the film was reasonably well done for Hollywood, but I came in expecting to be inspired, and left dejected. I guess the point was supposed to be "live fast, die young and fulfilled" but somehow it just didn't work for me. I'm not sure that I would recommend it to others, but I would probably tell them to see for themselves.