Million Dollar Movie

Rating: 8/10 (9 February 2005)

I went to see Million Dollar Baby tonight, and it was incredible. Clint Eastwood plays Frankie Dunn, a Boxing Trainer and Manager who is nearing the end of his career. Frank is plagued with an inability to take risks, which is the Motus Operandi of boxing itself, leaving him with no real accomplishments to take credit for. He is given one last chance at doing something great with his life when he is faced with Maggie Fitzgerald (Hilary Swank), an aging female wanna be boxer with little trade skill, but a whole lot of heart and natural talent.
I am not a huge fan of Clint Eastwood's earlier films (as a director), I think they are a little too clichéd and Dirty Harry-Esq. But somewhere along the line he managed to take a deep breathe and develop his own style of direction that is absolute art. I used to be only a fan of a movie that had some sort of cleverness about it, now every movie you see tries to be clever in someway. But maybe the cleverness of Million Dollar Baby, is that it doesn't try to be clever.
The artistic direction in Million Dollar Baby is amazing. Clint has grown an ability to transmute the world as we know it into a modern Norman Rockwell painting. Everything piece of set dec in the movie, no matter how torn up or battered it may be... seems to be beautiful. It is like this gossamer shroud of old fashion imagery, draped over the entire set. Clint has Morgan Freeman narrating the movie, and he does just as amazing as in The Shawshank Redemption. Every protaganistic characters seem to have so much honor, and command respect from the viewer, especially when they are held in contrast to the bad guys in the film. It really REALLY makes you root for the main character, and has that much more impact when disaster strikes. Trust me ... you start cheering for Maggie as she beats the crap out of people :D The character development is absolutely amazing in this movie, and possibly it's strongest feature. Clint develops the characters and their relationships so well, that you can feed solely off their body language. There are moments of silence in the movie, and although nothing is being said, you feel as if the characters are still speaking.
I absolutely loved this movie, all performances and characters are awesome. It was very well written and extremely well directed. Go see it. You have 2 days.
Million Dollar Baby - 8.5/10