Talk about "Million Dollar Baby" here:
Review by: Breanne Derby
Plot Summary
Frankie Dunn (Clint Eastwood) and Eddie Dupris (Morgan Freeman) are a retired trainer and former boxer who now own and run a gym. Their lives are simple and the biggest problem they have is keeping the gym members from picking on one smaller guy, that is, until Maggie Fitzgerald (Hilary Swank) walks through the door. Maggie demands to be trained by Frankie, and refuses to take no for an answer, no matter how many times he insists. Eventually Frankie wears down, and begins training Maggie. When he begins training her, a story of boxing and a story of life begins to unfold.
Review
Throughout the film, boxing is used as a thinly veiled metaphor for life. Every once in a while Morgan Freeman will come in with a voice-over of something that is supposed to be profound in the way that boxing relates back to the everyday, but in reality, they ended up sounding cheesy.
Eastwood and Freeman seemed to have a challenge going back and forth as to whose voice could sound gruffer in any given scene. Throughout the film they both sound like they're talking in a very uncomfortable and very forced way. If the two men could have not tried to out-gruff one another, it may have sounded better.
There were some very interesting lighting effects throughout this film. The most noticeable were the colored lighting cast onto people's faces (in the church and in the hospital). This lighting was definitely something unique about this film, and it added an interesting depth to the scenes, though there were times when it was just too much.
The issue of assisted suicide is also addressed in this film, and whether or not it was the intent of the makers, it makes the audience begin to wonder what they would do if a similar situation were to arise for them.
Unfortunately, there were many advertising opportunities taken advantage of in this film. There were constantly and shamelessly plugging for companies such as Everlast, and a few others.
One thing that I would have liked to seen clarified in this film was what year all of this was taking place in. It seemed to be taking place sometime in the past, as it was being told from the point of view of Eddie after it all happened, but it was never revealed what year this had taken place, or even the period of time that had passed between when it took place and when Eddie was telling the story.
There were also several pieces of the story that were left untold. The whole situation involving Frankie's daughter was untouched at the end of the film. It was brought up constantly and all kinds of things were said about her, but it was never said why she wouldn't take his letters or his calls even though she played a huge role in the story.
Conclusion
At two-hours and fifteen-minutes this film is much too long. It seems to drag on and on with no point and no purpose. When it finally did end, I was more than ready for it. The film would have been much better if it had ended at the last fight. All the scenes that took place after the last fight were just pointless extensions. If the film had ended at the end of the last boxing match, it might have gotten three stars, but the ending was so melancholy that it dragged down the rest of the film. I did not enjoy this film. I was very bored while watching it; two-hours and fifteen-minutes never felt so long. The ending was supposed to be conclusive of the story, but I didn't feel it did a sufficient job. The whole film was really rather boring, and unless you're looking to throw away two-hours and fifteen-minutes, I wouldn't watch "Million Dollar Baby."
