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Movies that bang
by Jordan Hiller

Million Dollar Baby (2005)

The best compliment I could give Clint Eastwood’s dark boxing drama is that it sticks the audience with a punch not easily forgotten. A nice solid uppercut to the jaw, jarring the brain, rattling the teeth, splitting the chin, and leaving a sizable bruise to remember it by…but a knockout punch? Not quite. What Million Dollar Baby lacks in fluidity and credibility it has made up for in performance and hype. Baby was released to good reviews and mention was made of Hillary Swank’s gritty performance followed by some turmoil regarding the New York Times’ revealing of the “surprising” finale, but now as the Oscars approach, this film, like the  scrappy contender at its heart, is looking to come out with a victory in the title fight. The movie has gained so much momentum, highlighted by a Golden Globe nod for Best Picture and a win for Swank, that it is poised to upset both The Aviator and Sideways later this month. By far the greatest injustice resulting from this snowball effect has been the inconceivable notion by The Academy that Eastwood’s performance as a reluctant, tough, standoffish, but sweet at the core trainer deserved a Best Actor nod over Paul Giamatti’s work in Sideways. Eastwood is a marvel in his old age and he delivers in a worthwhile outing, but, come on, he’s been doing the likable curmudgeon the same way and with the same furrow browed, twinkle eyed half smile since he reluctantly “trained” Charlie Sheen in 1990’s The Rookie. Not to take anything away from the guy but his nomination is clearly based on the merits of his career, not necessarily the movie itself.

With that said, Million Dollar Baby is most assuredly a beautiful look at the relationship between a young, back-to-the world, female fighter and her enigmatic mentor. Together they form a bond that represents the love between a father and daughter, while at the same time remaining romantic. On the other hand it is a very much a “Rocky” story where we watch, with adrenaline pumping, the unlikely ascent of an indigent, mentally tough underdog. The difference here, and it is a stunning one, is that Rocky is a “feel-good” story and Million Dollar Baby is essentially a “feel-bad” story. Beyond the glaring macabre turn with which Baby defines itself, it is basically the standard formulaic sports movie complete with melodramatic narration by the caramel voice of Morgan Freeman (imitating his Shawshank Redemption work and getting an Oscar nomination to boot). There are moments in the film that feel contrived and false (like anything having to do with Swank’s absurdist concoction of a red-neck family), and others that make you think the editor may have been TKO’d (the conversation about sock holes?).  Regardless of these dilemmas, it is worth stepping into the ring with this hard-hitting slugfest of a movie and go a few rounds until the ref mercifully calls the fight.