Tough ain't enough....

Rating: 9/10 (5 April 2014)

Maggie Fitzgerald, a waitress from the lower classes and a dysfunctional loser family, decides to make a difference through boxing.
She convinces experienced hardened boxing trainer Frankie Dunn to coach her and be her manager, with the support of his old partner Eddie Scrap-Iron Dupris, who sees her potential as a boxer.
Frankie has a problematical relationship with his daughter, and practically adopts Maggie along her career.....
If the term grizzled had a picture of a person next to it in the dictionary, Eastwood would dominate the page, let alone the definition of the term.
He had mastered the art of the grizzled person since his last Dirty Harry movie, and doesn't show signs of giving up yet. And this is why the movie works so well, when he shows his soft side, it changes the movie way, and the audiences feelings toward his character.
But anyone following the narrative, let alone seeing the one sheet, will know he will warm to Maggie come the end of the second act, after all, he let's Freeman lodge in his gym free of charge, so he can narrate the film.
It's a stunning piece of work, and if you haven't read the source material, the turn of events is pretty shocking, and really changes the way the film progresses with it's structure.
It's an awards baiting film, many don't like that term, but seeing as it's released at the height of awards season, and stars some very prolific people, you cannot deny it's anything else.
But it's a wondrous achievement, Freeman is excellent, as is Swank, it's just the grizzled Eastwood grates a little at the beginning, so kudos to him for taking over the film come the final act, and proving just what a brilliant actor, and director, the man is.