Million Dollar Baby: 9/10

Rating: 9/10 (17 February 2005)

Million Dollar Baby is propaganda by the baby-killing liberals. As is every movie dealing with a controversial issue, especially ones made by those ultra-liberal people at Warner Bros. and that staunch Democrat Clint Eastwood. It seems like the only part of movies people talk about is the ending, even in crappy movies. Supposedly, prints of Hide and Seek were sent out without the final reel, so no one would know the ending until the time came (as if anyone cared). Remember the furor around The Sixth Sense's ending? Everyone knows it now, and if you're not careful, you'll uncover the ending to Million Dollar Baby-a true shocker, if there ever was one. It's unexpected, realistic, and powerful. Try getting that from Hide and Seek.
Hilary Swank (in what is sure to be her second Best Actress Oscar role) is Maggie Fitzgerald, a trailer-park wanna-be boxer who joins up in has-been Frankie Dunn's (Clint Eastwood) gym. Frankie has somewhat of a misogynist attitude, but agrees to train her, anyway. She rises through the circuits of boxing very quickly, and, although reluctantly, Frankie starts to admit that she's a good boxer.
Before I saw Baby, I thought for sure the Academy would finally give the best director award to Martin Scorsese for his mediocre work in The Aviator. But now, I think Eastwood's almost a shoo-in for Best Director. Eastwood frames each shot carefully, and creates the most drama possible from each one. Something that really stood out for me was his use of color. Oftentimes bleak, but always for a purpose, to elict some sort of feeling from the audience. Eastwood uses the minimum of, well, everything possible to make the mood as dreary and unwasteful as possible. And, much like Raging Bull (directed by Eastwood's current rival), the boxing scenes are completely realistic. Except you can tell Eastwood didn't cheat at all (like Scorsese probably did), as this movie is full color, and the boxing scenes build up so much tension it's almost impossible to believe. Million Dollar Baby has both that and the dramatic quality, which ranks it up with the top films of 2004.
The bigger question at hand is this: whodathunk that within five years, a relatively unknown actress will have had two roles of a lifetime and win best actress in five years. Swank was amazing (although not as amazing as Chloe Sevigny, who was robbed) as Brandon Teena/Teena Brandon in Boys Don't Cry, but better here in Million Dollar Baby. Her character is so determined, such a strong spirit basically rising from nothing, and Swank portrays Maggie extremely well. I guess she'll make Annette Bening lose again this year.
Is Million Dollar Baby the best picture of the year? No, mainly because in the last twenty or thirty minutes, it just drags on and on. The message and plot are clear, yet it continues to reiterate it over and over again. We know that the person wants to do something, and another person doesn't want that to happen, but seriously, do we need that extra fifteen minutes of no substance? That's the only complaint I have with this strong, strong movie. What's even better is that it's PG-13, meaning anyone can see it, which they should.
My rating: 9/10 Rated PG-13 for violence, some disturbing images, thematic material and language.