A depressing experience

Rating: 4/10 (1 September 2011)

I've loved the majority of Eastwood's films as director in the last decade (and consider LETTERS FROM IWO JIMA to be one of the finest war films ever made), but MILLION DOLLAR BABY is a film that left me cold. On the face of it, there's nothing much to dislike: it's expertly crafted with Eastwood's eye for technical detail and cast members delivering Oscar-winning performances.
But, nonetheless, something didn't gel with me. It may be that the rags-to-riches boxing story is far too familiar, having been done decades ago in the much lower-budgeted ROCKY, a film with a simpler plot and worse actors that was far more powerful, thanks to its raw heartfelt emotion. In contrast, MILLION DOLLAR BABY is ice-cold, and something feels very staged about it.
Swank is believable as the female boxer, but once again I felt no empathy for her character (Swank, like Cate Blanchett, never seems to get the audience on side). Eastwood and Freeman feel tired, both just giving yet another variation on already familiar character types. The pacing is slow and the running time overlong, making the storyline feel stretched out; the last hour or so is particularly painful to watch.
I enjoy movies because they're entertaining and I often prefer escapism over highbrow intellectualism. Despite the professionalism of its cast and crew, MILLION DOLLAR BABY forgets to be entertaining, and I disliked it for that reason.