Million Dollar Baby

If you haven't seen Million Dollar Baby, and the third act hasn't already been ruined for you by critics on the Right, or critics of the Right's critics, then I recommend you don't read this post.

Seriously, if you don't know about the movie, stop reading.

Stop.

Okay, are you gone?

Okay, they're gone.


So what we've got here is two movies, in a way. One's a boxing movie, one's a euthanasia movie. Neither of them blew me out of the water. The general concensus after the film (I saw it with Leslie, Frank, Paul, and McKenna) was that it was "solid," and I can pretty much stand by that assesment. Solid performances, solid directing. Solid.

I think it has its problems. Honestly, the boxing portion felt really tired. Leslie told me last night that the early scenes bored her, and she just wanted to yell "Just train her, already!" They didn't bug me so much. What did get boring was the boxing. None of the fights (until the big title bout) mean anything, other than to show that Maggie Is Unstoppable. Nothing is illuminated about the characters. I know it's unfair to compare the movie to Raging Bull, but when Jake LaMotta stepped into the ring, that fight became an extension of the characters' relationships. A lot of Million Dollar Baby just felt like a typical sports movie. Maggie only has twenty seconds to knock her opponent out. Dramatic zoom-in on Clint Eastwood as he watches. And Maggie's big title bout is agains a "former East German prostitute"? She sounds like (and came off as) a discarded villain from the Rocky series. Oh, and let's not forget Maggie's cartoonishly villainous hillbilly family.

What does work are the characters and their relationships, and that's really the movie's bread and butter. Clint Eastwood, Morgan Freeman, and Hilary Swank are all great. And the reason I think the euthanasia movie is better than the boxing movie is that it brings all the character's relationships into stark focus. It raises the stakes. How far will Frank go for this woman he now sees as his daughter? I think in the end Frank sees it as setting Maggie free, and killing himself. It's a sacrifice he's willing to make. And when he finally tells Maggie what her Gaelic moniker means, well, that nearly broke my damn heart. I think it's that portion that elevates the film from an above-average sports movie into a genuinely compelling drama. But the first two acts just feel too bogged down in the limitations of the genre.

And what's with that scene with Morgan Freeman fighting that young jerk boxer? Why was that there? I mean, I think they'll give Freeman the Oscar because of it (it was a big crowd pleaser in our audience), but what point did it serve?

Anyway, good movie. Very good movie. But Sideways remains my favorite Best Picture nominee.