Excellent film from a true Renaissance man

Rating: 9/10 (28 February 2005)

Congrats to all responsible for the film. I'm writing this a couple hours after Oscars finished- yup, that's right, it's now 2008. Nah seriously, this is an excellent film. One wouldn't know what the film was about from the previews. Not that one should. Nevertheless, typically accomplished work from Clint. And this time, he wrote the music too. If he could film the movie and be in it at the same time, he could cut down on salaries to people by minimizing the number of people in the production. All that said, Morgan Freeman is excellent, though really the Oscar is a bit of a typically Hollywood, guilt-ridden, let's-right-wrongs Oscar. That being said, he's one of the best, and he's as good as ever. One's tempted to take him for granted, he's that good. I think I'm going to have to go back and see "Unforgiven" again to see him collaborating with Clint again. Hilary Swank is excellent. She didn't deserve the Oscar, I'm sorry. Obviously, much of the Academy hadn't seen "Vera Drake" or she wouldn't have gotten it. I haven't seen "Maria Full of Grace" so don't know how that lady's performance measured up. All that being said, Swank really is a very talented actress. The film itself, well, some nice elements to it. Swank conveys winsomeness and determination as well as any actress this side of Jodie Foster. The characters tend toward stock, but really, they are nicely colored to the point that the story is not disabled by their blandness. Clint takes what might be a straight-forward sports biopic and makes it something so much more. This is a very enjoyable movie.