Stereotyped but fairy tale-like

Rating: 9/10 (15 March 2005)

To me, the characters came off as very stereotyped: the half-blind, washed-up boxer who just missed hitting the big one and has never truly left the ring, the tough-as-nails but soft-at-heart coach who's mysteriously estranged from his family, the protagonist who has an almost unrealistic devotion to the sport and exaggerated loyalty to a family that's a little too easy to hate... the list goes on. Somehow, though, this stereotyping didn't bother me. The movie had a fairy-tale feel to it, which made it easy for me to "suspend disbelief." I found when it was all over that I wanted more. I'd spring for a whole movie just on Frankie Dunn (e.g. the story behind the feud between him and his daughter) or Eddie Dupris (such as his rise and fall in the boxing world, and why he too had so much passion for the sport, and how he maintained such a strong sense of morals and ethics through it all). I too thought there was no way that Maggie could've lost the fight after a sucker punch like that, so I refused to believe it, chalked it up to a lack of follow-up details, and moved on. I commend Hilary Swank for her outstanding performance; after all, to pull off Maggie Fitzgerald's passion for boxing, Swank had to be equally passionate about the role.