It's not about life, it's about death.

Rating: Null/10 (1 March 2005)

Clint Eastwood has been (in past years) a favorite of mine. I've enjoyed his westerns and many other films he's starred in.
When it comes to this film I'm reminded of the old saying "You can fool some of the people all of the time, you can fool all of the people some of the time, but you can't fool all of the people all of the time."
Well, judging from the percentage of positive reviews, both on this site and in the newspapers, Clint has indeed come pretty close to "fooling all of the people all of the time" with this one.
The first two thirds of Million Dollar Baby is indeed a great fight film. It's uplifting and satisfying in every sense of the word. If Clint had stopped there I would also have been writing a review that drips with honey, as so many of my peers have done.
But he doesn't stop there. He glues a lengthy stretch of additional celluloid onto a great fight film to promote his personal belief in euthanasia. He sells, and sells hard, the idea that killing Maggie is a good, kind, and loving act. After all, who wants to live as a paraplegic?
I wonder what the late Christopher Reeves would have said about this had he seen the film? I rather think the good Mr. Reeves would have spit in Clint's eye.
When it comes out on DVD be sure and show this film to every crippled person you know. In particular the paraplegics who "fight the good fight" every day. It will cheer them right up.
If it were only a boxing film I would rate it 10 stars, it's terrific. But as it's really an "ambush" film promoting Clint's personal belief in euthanasia, I give it no stars at all.