Directing Perfection for Eastwood

Rating: 10/10 (13 February 2005)

Let me say first that I am no fan of Clint Eastwood's movies. I didn't like 'Unforgiven' or 'Mystic River,' both critics' darlings, so I was expecting something along the same vein for this film. In both those other films the focus is on men. In this case, it's Hillary Swank's character, Maggie, and it makes all the difference for me because I like a little estrogen in my films. The story is enthralling and character driven - with a focus on all three characters. Now some are very upset by the ending of the film but I felt complete empathy and so did Joe, who I had to basically bribe to see the movie. And he LOVED it. The direction of the film is perfection - Eastwood uses incredible shadow work and several styles that enhance the story so much, that I can't imagine any other director doing the film. While I saw some editing problems in Aviator, and some flaws in the directorial shots, I saw NONE of that here, and I've read Eastwood took only a little over a month to shoot it. Amazing! He wins best director in my mind.
The acting is fantastic - I can't even put into words how the actors melt into their characters. I didn't see Clint Eastwood - I saw cut man Frankie Dunn. I loved Jamie Foxx in Ray, but for me Eastwood won the Oscar for me. Of course Swank is awesome (I even loved her in Next Karate Kid) and should also win the Oscar. Morgan Freeman is always perfect and his chemistry with Eastwood is better than any other film I've seen yet this year.
Normally I wouldn't recommend seeing a movie like this on the big screen but the boxing scenes are so cool that I would say it is worth the price of admission. See it!