Movies of the Decade: 7. Million Dollar Baby (2004)

Some directors start to deteriorate as they get older. While others become greater and more skilled as they go on; Clint Eastwood is the latter. Eastwood has made his masterpiece with Million Dollar Baby. It's a careful, beautifully crafted film that could have easily been subjected to cliche's, but it avoids those wonderfully. Hilary Swank plays Maggie Fitzgerald a red neck girl who is looking for her ticket to glory. She's a character who knows her situation but continues to try to achieve her dreams. Morgan Freeman's character Eddie "Scrap-Iron" Dupris says of her, "She grew up knowing one thing, she was trash." Maggie tries to get the attention of Frankie Dunn (Clint Eastwood) an old boxing trainer who refuses to train her because "she's a girl." For no one who has seen the film (which honestly if you haven't come on let's get on that) I cannot divulge anymore of the plot. This picture could have easily strayed into gimmick and cliched area. But Eastwood treat's this picture with such grace and seriousness it becomes so much more. It's not a boxing movie, it's a movie about a boxer. We are shown a character study of the people involved in the sport. He doesn't try to go after the easy sentiment, rather letting the audience decide their own views. Acting comes to the forefront of this picture. Eastwood, Swank, Freeman everyone is at the top of their games. And technically this film prevails. The technical aspect of this film do not get to much attention which is a shame. Editor Joel Cox and Cinematographer Tom Stern help create the atmosphere in such a subtle way. Eastwood could have gone in many directions with this film. He decided to stay away from cliche's and concentrated on the characters and the troubles they face.