An Excellent Addition To Any Movie Collection. Million Dollar Baby Is Simply Put, Brilliant.

Rating: Null/10 (28 January 2005)

After months of hearing about Million Dollar Baby and the hype surrounding it, I finally got to see it. I actually went in with low expectations but was very pleased to find out that it lives up to the hype! It really is that good.
Million Dollar Baby is basically about a tough woman named Maggie Fitzgerald (Hilary Swank) who lives for boxing and wants to go as far as she can with it. Therefore, she finds the right person she wants to train and manage her and refuses to quit until he accepts her. As you can imagine, the boxing plays a huge role in this story but around half way to three quarters of the way through, the movie takes an unexpected dark turn. I don't go into many details because I don't want to spoil it. I saw this movie without hearing a thing about it and I believe it was much better not knowing what to expect or even what kind of movie it starts off as and metamorphoses into.
I know from what I have written, the movie seems a bit cliché'd, and certain parts may be, but the movie itself is nothing but a cliché. It is a great story that is more about the boxer than boxing. While I was expecting somewhat of a female Rocky, it became something quite different. If you are expecting another Girl Fight, Honeybee, etc., look someplace else because you will get well more than expected here.
Hilary Swank plays the boxer very convincingly. She obviously went through an immense amount of training to ready herself for this role and I have to say, she nailed it. Not only does she show us what she has in the ring, she shows us she can act with the best of them.
I like to compare Clint Eastwood to John Wayne. Not just here but in almost every movie. They are similar because they always play the same roles. Some people may hate me for saying this, but this is the first Eastwood film that I really liked. Blood Work was all right, but this movie is much better. I give him kudos for his director and producing talents here. Anyone can act the same part for 50 years and get it right. I don't mean this as an insult, but just so you know not to expect anything new from him.
Morgan Freeman plays Eddie Dupris, a former boxer who is narrating the story. He also seems to be a mediator between Frankie (Eastwood) and Maggie, at least until Frankie accepts her.
Add Danger (Jay Baruchel) for comic relief as the semi-retarded wannabe boxer and you have a nice little movie.
Million Dollar Baby is an outstanding movie which I can compare to American Beauty in 1999. I went into both without expectations and left knowing that I had seen something great and simply put, brilliant. 10/10