Down for the Count

Rating: Null/10 (16 February 2005)

O.K. Boxing leaves me cold or maybe I should say - usually boxing leaves one of the boxer's cold. I'm not trying to be facetious but Clint Eastwood took a theme which is totally improbable yet I found it interesting and moving. For most of the movie, I found the plot well developed, the characters interesting and the grimy background believable. And what do you know, that girl can punch - one wallop and down they go until one day, down she went. And so did the movie. If the movie would have ended before the lengthy hospital scenes, I would have walked out and thought, well she did what she wanted to with the help of a moody, guilt ridden manager. He really overdid "moody" but hey, this is a movie. Now to get to the sad part and it was sad, sad. He was sad, she was sick and sad. Her folks were especially sad since no more money was forthcoming. Anyway, as the sun sets in the west, the movie sank lower and lower into despair until the end. And so the moody manager vanished into the night, or did he?