Million Dollar Baby movie review - Aussieboyreviews

IS MILLION DOLLAR BABY TRAGIC ENOUGH TO BRING TEARS FROM YOUR EYES?

This incredibly well-made and depressing film will be forcing tears from your eyes. This excellent sports-drama is best for teens, but is very sad.

Storyline

“I don’t train girls,” says an old hard-tempered coach who reluctantly agrees to train an aspired female boxer. Impressed by her determination and talent, he helps her become a professional and they soon form a close bond.

Movie Images

Movie details

Director: Clint Eastwood
Cast: Clint Eastwood, Hilary Swank, Morgan Freeman, Jay Baruchel, Margo Martindale
Writer: Paul Haggis
Release Date (Australia): 3 February 2005
Runtime: 132 minutes/2h 12m
Genre: Sport, Drama
Country: USA
Language: English

CONTENT GUIDE (WARNING: MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS)

Themes (M)

The film contains themes of injury, attempted suicide and euthanasia.

Violence (M)

The film features scenes of boxing, including depictions of punches that result in moderate blood and injury detail.

Coarse Language (M)

The film features use of the words “hell”, “damn”, “ass”, “crap” and “s**t”, in addition to a single use of the word “f**king”.

Sex (PG)

The film contains visual sexual references and verbal references to “humping”.

mpaa rating

PG-13 (for violence, some disturbing images, thematic material and language)

Aussie boy's thoughts

Clint Eastwood’s Million Dollar Baby stirs you slowly and smoothly through a female boxing story, only to jump out of nowhere and literally shatter you emotionally. If this doesn’t send buckets of tears down your cheeks, what will? It begins as the typical kind of sports movie, where we’re introduced to a woman’s journey through boxing. But Million Dollar Baby takes a devastating turn, definitely hyping as something you’d wanna avoid spoilers for.

The best thing about this near-masterpiece is the depressing theme, but on the other hand, the performances are brilliant, too. Hilary Swank, Clint Eastwood and Morgan Freeman are amazingly perfect. It’s almost as if we’re witnessing real-life footage of these events. The music is also a frequent, noticeable and beautiful component to the overall effect on its strong-hearted audiences. Whenever you hear it, the tragedy and hope of Million Dollar Baby will immediately set foot in your head.

However, there’s reasons why this unforgettable hidden gem isn’t a definite masterpiece. Although it’s entertaining, gripping, inspiring and loveable, a lot of the messages and themes can be quite clichéd. Those clichés are thankfully the only flaw, but aren’t going to leave the list of improvement needed.

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