Really just an okay movie nothing more, definitely not worthy of best picture, by far

Rating: Null/10 (7 March 2005)

Okay, despite what many people think, Hollywood is just going through a "Clint Eastwood" phase where they think everything he touches is gold. This whole movie was driven by characters only, the plot was really a big letdown. The first half I'll agree was a little slow but then it really began to develop when Swank's character is winning fights, forming a tighter relationship with Clint Eastwood as a trainer, but then it's at this title fight, where the movie just drops off a cliff and hits rock bottom. Swank goes up against a dirty fighter who will throw any punch for victory, so the fight lingers on until when another round ends with the bell, Clint Eastwood places a stool on its side waiting for her to return to the corner when this other fighter hits her in the back and she lands on the side of the stool with her neck paralyzing her from the neck down. This is where the movie just collapsed, then she becomes bed bound, her family comes and demands money and she tells them off, so she loses her family, she has to get her leg cut off because of skin blisters from her lack of movement and flexibility, then she tries to kill herself by biting off her tongue and then after all that Clint Eastwood just comes and finally performs a mercy kill on her. The momentum of the movie just took such a sudden stop in pace and then became the most depressing thing ever, the development of characters just went from bad to worse, (the same could be said for mystic river) the plot could have been worked out so much better, i thought that at the title fight that Swank would either lose or just get like a broken shoulder or something, i didn't expect her to get crippled for life and then have her whole world just collapse on her and result in the most horrific and miserable last weeks of her life. I think if she had like broken her shoulder or something and then still persisted to fight, Clint Eastwood would become more and more reluctant to let her fight, develop the relationship a little more, and then have swank get another shot at a title fight and then have the life altering injury and let it play out like it did. All in all, i felt that this movie was not best picture material, it was just one of those films that was so depressing people just thought it was good, really its just typical Clint Eastwood behind the lends of camera, he creates the most cutthroat "right for the eyes" scenario that provides the most depressing scene someone can think of, next movie to come out by him would probably be about a cripple being raped and robbed..., i don't look forward to anymore of Eastwood's films