Million Dollar Baby

Rating: Null/10 (22 April 2012)

Million Dollar Baby
The movie Million Dollar Baby stars Oscar award winning actors Clint Eastwood, Morgan Freeman and Hilary Swank, the storyline is Maggie, played by (Swank) was an amateur female boxer from a same town in Missouri, went to the big city to train to become a professional. Swank's performance really added to the theme of the movie, it was an emotional drama with a sports back draw, it could bring to mind the first (Rocky) with its emotional tie. Maggie sought out trainer Frankie played by (Eastwood), who is a great trainer but has little success training championship boxers, in the past. Maggie, a quiet loner was turned down by Frankie, but continued to come to the gym and train anyway. Eddie, played by (Freeman) was a partner of Frankie and pretty much the overseer in the gym, he befriended Maggie and watched her dedication and gave what he could to assist her in her endeavor to be a champion. Although turned down by Frankie, Maggie continued to come in everyday and train, Frankie gave in and became her trainer. He agreed to train her but told her he'd train her until he could find her a manager. Before Maggie's first fight Frankie left Maggie with another manager only to come back and see Maggie win the fight. As the movie goes on, the relationship between Maggie and Frankie becomes more of a father/daughter then a manager/boxer partnership. Maggie's skills were honed to the point that she began knocking opponents out in the first round, although she was becoming a great fighter, Frankie being the father figure protected her from fights against top ranked contenders. (Ebert, 2005) Maggie's grew frustrated and requested to fight the best; Frankie agreed to fight against the women's welterweight champion Billie "The Blue Bear" a German fighter that's known for fighting dirty. Maggie unshaken by the German's fight game, she gave the champion all she could handle to the point that she was beating the champ and forced the champ to throw a sucker punch from behind when Maggie wasn't looking. This caused Maggie to fall head first on a chair that was being placed in the ring that fighters sit on in between rounds. The fall caused Maggie to break her neck and become a quadriplegic. Maggie, refuse to accept the prognosis that she would never recover and regain mobility in her limbs, Frankie being that father figure steps up to help her through this trying time and help with anything she needed done. Including dealing with Maggie's family trying to use her and take all her money. Clint Eastwood did a great job using the slow motion and still photograph when Maggie was hit from behind in the ring and showing her head hitting the chair. That scene was very shocking and emotional; it intensified the moment and added to the emotional quality of the film. This added to the dramatic effect of the film and tied Maggie and Frankie together to build up to the climax of the movie, where Frankie assisted Maggie in taking her life because she didn't want to be a vegetable for the rest of her life.
This is without a doubt one of the best films of the year, a must see.