At bottom, it's just a boxing movie...

Rating: Null/10 (27 February 2005)

Yes, the movie is well done for its genre, but they've been making versions of this movie for more than 60 years, and modulo some details and production values, they're pretty much the same. I could have gone into the screening with a checklist of things that are supposed to happen in a boxing movie, and when I came out, all the items would have been checked.
There are only a couple of boxing films that have broken the mold in some way. I'm sure there were others, but the first two I can think of offhand are Raging Bull and the first Rocky.
It was a good movie, but one of the best films of 2004? No way. It's not even the best film Clint Eastwood has ever directed. (That honor would go to Mystic River.)