Imagine Rocky with breasts but no sequels

Rating: 9/10 (9 March 2005)

On the one hand, Million Dollar Baby is probably the most masterfully acted and beautifully crafted movie of the year, thoroughly deserving all four of its Oscars. But on the other, it lacks the originality and all-round satisfaction provided by fellow nominee Sideways.
You know what you're going to get with a Clint-directed film; usually a story of human failings told through rich but moody visuals at an unhurried pace in unsexy locations. When he breaks out of this mould, you get Firefox, The Rookie and Space Cowboys.
M$B teams spunky hick chick wannabe-boxer Maggie with grouchy mentor Frank, puts them on the road to success and then runs them off it in an extremely tragic manner. Imagine Rocky with breasts but no sequels.
Clint combines power with light-footedness in the gym and in the ring, but some of the dramatic scenes suffer from screenwriter Paul Haggis's leaden, hackneyed dialogue which clumsily telegraphs each of the tragic events to come. But the actors, and Swank in particular, deliver it faultlessly.
This is a movie about taking your chance when it comes, living for the moment and having faith in people, not religion (tellingly, the only 'f' word in the film is uttered by a priest). It is a thought-provoking and captivating film of unquestionable quality, but the idea of the working class girl with a boxing dream was realised recently, and perfectly adequately, in Girlfight. Originality is what makes a film great, so in that respect, M$B is a worthy contender rather than a true champion.