Million Dollar Baby

Everything everyone has said about "Million Dollar Baby" is true -- this is the work of three actors on top of their game, and a competent and understated director who stays out of the way.

The performances by Clint Eastwood and Morgan Freeman were (as usual) filled with nuance and unspoken power....but Hillary Swank's performance just blistered off the screen. Glowing with an innocent charisma enfused with the fire of her inner drive, she carried the film as the titular character, the driving force of the plot, and the center of the moral storm.

If I were to fault this movie, it would be for the one-sided presentation of the right-to-die debate. A movie that had, until the ending, been colored in shades upon shadows of gray became a fairly black-and-white examination of the issue. Now, my own liberal sensibilities were not particularly offended by that, but I wish the movie had been a little less sure of itself, had agonized a bit more about the difficulties of the decision.

Still, while perhaps not a perfect movie, "Million Dollar Baby" is nothing short of terrific, and (yet another) tour de force for Clint Eastwood.