Review of Million Dollar Baby (2004) by Alvin Y — 22 Jun 2011

Million Dollar Baby, Great Movies.

I thought films like "Rocky", "Raging Bull", "Cinderella Man", and "The Fighter" are the best boxing films ever made, but after seeing "Million Dollar Baby", it's worth a million dollar on it's greatness and truthness to itself. Unlike those 4 boxing films I've mentioned, this film is not that kind of you would expect a last fight at the end, instead you would see rather not a boxing match here, but you would see three people who are related to boxing but has some stories about courage and determination in life. We start with Frankie, played and directed of course by Clint Eastwood. You know if a movie is directed by Eastwood, you're gonna expect boredom, NO! You're gonna expect more drama and more lessons about his characters. He is a veteran retired trainer, and his famous line, "I don't train girls" becomes a memorable one. He goes to the church every morning and prays every night, so he's a religious and a faithful man. He also reads a book about poetry while he trains other boxers on his gym. He has a daughter but we never met her, nor him because she hates him so much. And I gotta say, this is the only film that I know where he stars and directs the film, that made him cry and become emotional, and I'll explain that later on.

Next character is Scrap, played by Morgan Freeman which took him an Oscar as well. He is also a retired old man who is also once a boxer, and now lives on the side of the gym. His role here is very important to Eastwood's character and to the film itself. He is more of a friend than a trainer to Frankie, and once for all, Scrap is more of the undertaker to Frankie. And also, he narrates the whole film, where he tells a story about Frankie and then our next character which is Maggie who goes to the gym and about their story until to the end.

Hillary Swank, plays Maggie in her second Oscar winning performance. She is a waitress and goes to the gym regularly to forget about her job for the day. One day Frankie notices her, and at first he refuses to train her but by the help of Scrap, he takes her. Maggie is more of a woman than what she is outside, she is a strong and a courageous woman inside who never fears or cries at anything until to that last scenes. We met her and we know she is not rich or poor, her mother is very selfish and ignorant, and her other family members doesn't love her much. At those moments, you would be very sad and feel emotional to Maggie. She never gives up hope and determination, and that's why Frankie says she is more of a daughter to me and one of the persons that I get so touched by it, I gotta also say the same thing!

Why is it a great movie? Unlike many other films out there, whether it is a sports film or not, this movie is very simple and beyond that, very subtle and quiet just to understand and feel what these three characters say to us and to themselves. That's why these 3 characters are the main key subject to this film. Probably like other Clint Eastwood films, "Million Dollar Baby" is worth watching, sometimes it's funny, and sometimes it makes you cry or even applaud at the end because we know it is great and left a lot lesson to us.

I couldn't think of any other film that has the same story of a woman who goes on a boxing, except a film called "Girlfight", that is about this time a woman who gets in trouble all the time and wants to go boxing. But this film, is very standard and reliable to it's characters, why Maggie wants to go boxing? Why does Frankie doesn't train woman in boxing? And why Scrap didn't leave or hated Frankie? Those questions are answered more depth and more confident, that it became so powerful and real intellectual. And once again they all deserve those Oscars that they took home in 2004, best picture, director, actress, supporting actor, and I think there's more, but still it really is one of the best films of 2004, NO! One of the best films of the last decade, and also the best and honest boxing film ever made.

Warning: please bring a tissue box, because it would make you cry at the end? Why? You're gonna find out!