A true 'hollywood classic'

Rating: 1/10 (26 March 2005)

Made-for-the-Oscars cinema at it's finest. This movie is total rubbish. Other than the Oscar(s) it won, it is sure to be forgotten in the annals of film history. Just like Gladiator. And thank goodness for that! In classic Hollywood tradition, the film focuses on a chic subject and a chic controversy -- women's boxing and 'mercy' killing of the disabled. Unfortunately, the film has nothing to say about either.
Since I am a former boxer and boxing connoisseur, and tend to be overly picky about such things, I won't go into the details of how they got the boxing aspects of the movie wrong. Suffice it to say that Rocky(I) was much more realistic.
The actors in the film turn in commendable performances, but Swank is horribly miscast and Freeman somewhat less horribly so.
Swank is far too beautiful, young, and fresh looking to play the part of a deeply scarred untouchable trailer park girl who no men are even interested in romantically. Total Hollywood bol1ocks. Only beautiful actresses need apply. Only the spoon fed masses can accept such nonsense.
Freeman is always Driving Miss Daisy, and he is great playing that part, but he's far too benign a face for the pragmatically backstabbing ex-fighter in Million Dollar Baby. But he has a name...
The plot of the film is horribly contrived. It was difficult not to laugh when the supposed 'heart breaking' ending of the movie revealed itself, unfolding like the nightmare scenario of a 15 year old pen trying desperately to shock his teachers and impress his peers. *yawn*
For the most part, Million Dollar Baby was one big collection of clichés, and they weren't even combined in an interesting way. "Girly, tough ain't enough." Are we really expected to take lines like this seriously? Tack on the bit at the end about how life as a quadriplegic is not worth living, and you have yourself a real film's film. At least somebody thought so.
If any proof was needed that Hollywood film-making is purely commodified and has completely lost it's moorings, Million Dollar Baby should suffice.
Hollywood's 'Best Picture'? I'm not surprised.