Clint Eastwood scores another home run directing this heartbreaking story about a determined woman boxer.

Rating: 9/10 (23 April 2005)

Starring: Clint Eastwood, Hilary Swank, Morgan Freeman Boxing is a sport that I personally do not appreciate. Two guys go into the squared circle, put on some gloves, and beat the living crap out of each other. To me, that isn't entertainment. That's just stupidity.
If nothing else though, I admire the people who go through that rigorous training and have the physical skill and strength to be such incredible fighters.
Million Dollar Baby is a movie all about boxing. Frankie (Eastwood) is an over the hill boxing trainer and manager who owns a gym. His prize fighter is on the verge of being ready for a title match, but Frankie holds him back for a few more fights so that he's ready. His fighter doesn't want to wait and finds a new manager.
From the beginning of the movie, there is a woman frequently showing up at the gym to train. Her name is Maggie (Swank), a southerner from a poor background with dreams and a truckload of ambition. She wants Frankie to be here manager, but Frankie doesn't train girls. No matter how hard Maggie tries to convince him, Frankie doesn't budge.
Eventually, after his fighter leaves him, Frankie has a change of heart and decided to take Maggie on. They form a friendship that almost seems like a father/daughter relationship. Frankie looks out for Maggie all the time, doing his best to protect her, guide her, train her, and send her forward into the boxing world. Maggie advances and eventually gets a title bout. But tragedy strikes. Specifically, I will not say what, but Maggie's boxing career comes to an abrupt and tragic end.
The rest of the movie is very difficult to watch because you feel genuinely sorry for Maggie when you see her lying in that hospital bed. At points in the movie I felt my eyes getting a little moist.
Million Dollar Baby is a very well done movie. The acting is superb, the plot is great, the movie is mostly clean. But the ending is far too tragic for my taste. I watch movies to be entertained. Not depressed.
This movie is very good in a The Green Mile or Forrest Gump kind of way.
Bottom Line: 3.5 out of 4 (definitely worth a look)