Good but not great

Rating: Null/10 (10 February 2005)

I liked MDB but not as much as some did. It portrayed the gritty boxing gym scene OK in parts, but had some glaring boxing technical mistakes or oversights that bothered me. Why didn't Eastwood run the film for boxing technical advisors before the final cut? Oh, well. But it did convey the emotion and drama of "fight night" pretty well, however Eastwood's very spare acting and direction have gotten quite threadbare for me over the years, and often I wish for a bit more emotional "ooomph" in his films. I get kinda weary of the Joe Friday, "just the facts, maam", school of acting and direction so typical of Eastwood.
Swank was terrific in her role but too was way too angelic and saintly for real life as a vicious knockout fighter, Freeman didn't ring true for today when he did not take any offense at all when called the N-word over and over by a mentally defective, wannabe fighter, and Eastwood was not terribly convincing as he vastly underplayed his role as a crusty and irritable trainer and manager. But the film did make a creditable attempt to show that sometimes a life just may be worth dying for certain people in certain situations, especially after a tragedy takes 99% of it from them beforehand. Very controversial issue in America's "just say no to assisted suicide" position of today.
Not nearly as good a film as Sideways, but worthy.