1027. Million Dollar Baby (2004)

Starring: Hilary Swank, Clint Eastwood, Morgan Freeman

Director: Clint Eastwood

Running Time: 132 mins

Million Dollar Baby is an American film about the tough relationship between an aspiring female boxer and a hardened trainer as she aims to turn professional.

This is both an exciting and entertaining sports movie as well as a powerfully dramatic and emotional human story with fantastic directing, writing and acting across the board.

Let’s start with the fact that, despite not being the fastest-paced film you’ll ever see, the excellent screenplay here makes for a thoroughly engaging watch across two hours. With appropriately punchy dialogue as well as deep, hard-hitting emotion, this is a story that’s a treat to follow along to, and will definitely engross you fully.

The relationship between the female boxer, played by Hilary Swank, and her reluctant trainer, played by Clint Eastwood, is also absolutely fascinating. It tells the story of people driven by ambition, and held back by fear and the past, and it’s by far one of the most convincing and real human relationships you’ll ever see on screen.

As well as the screenplay, the performances here are instrumental in making this such an engrossing and convincing story. Hilary Swank puts a great effort into her performance, both in terms of her acting and her physical work to be up to scratch as a boxer, whilst Clint Eastwood and Morgan Freeman, the other two main actors in this film, have their own great chemistry together, whilst each one of them plays their character with such clear wisdom and class, making them a marvel to watch.

The plot is exciting, and, fortunately, it doesn’t follow the generic sports movie story, and instead opts for a more hard-hitting account of the rise of this woman in the boxing world, with some incredibly powerful emotional scenes coming about regarding her desire to be the best, as well as the developing relationship between her and her trainer.

Overall, I’ll give this an 8.3, because it’s simply a very impressive, exciting and often touching sports drama that will have you glued to the screen from start to finish.