Mike Clark
By now, Clint Eastwood has nothing to prove to moviegoers. Like his spaghetti Western heroes did to the last pistolero of the day, he has gunned down every preconception about him.
Yet, here he is, still reinventing himself with Million Dollar Baby, a grim knockout of a boxing movie with multiple jolts.
Eastwood directs and stars in one of his top performances, not as the boxer, obviously, but as a gym operator.
With still-imposing biceps and a gruff voice, he has the authority to make us follow his lead, yet the character is not without flaws. Weekly letters to an estranged daughter get returned. And he's so confrontational to a much younger priest during daily visits to church that the clearly exasperated cleric finally declares, "Don't come to Mass tomorrow."
Still, viewers will find his grumpiness agreeable, and we understand why a waitress played heartbreakingly by Hilary Swank wants him to train her.
Nearly out of options as she pushes 32, Swank's character is upfront about her trashy upbringing, although when we finally see her kin in two unforgettable scenes, she comes off as a master of understatement.
Eastwood wants nothing to do with female boxers, but fate, a personal liking for the woman who calls him "boss" and some unrestrained prodding combine to change his mind.
The prodding comes from a one-eyed gym live-in (Morgan Freeman) who in his own fighting days used Eastwood as a cut man. They have their own sad history, but they get along so well they can needle each other incessantly without hitting sore nerves.
As Swank starts piling up surprise wins and self-esteem, you sense the movie is heading somewhere. Though the destination isn't clear, the principals are photographed in the kind of expressionistic shadows that suggest a Rocky redux won't be forthcoming.
Great scene follows great scene, taking the movie to fresh levels. Among masterful sequences are Swank's discomforting first reunion with her family and Freeman taking matters into his own hands with some of the buffed rabble that hangs around the gym.
Swank hasn't been the easiest actress to cast since her Boys Don't Cry Oscar, but this performance will clear all doubts of one-hit-wonderdom - not in the least because she convinces in the fight scenes and is in spectacularly credible shape.
Boxing at its best can be exhilarating. So is seeing, as we did a couple of Decembers ago with Robert Altman and Gosford Park, a filmmaker in his 70s firing on all cylinders.
Better than last year's Mystic River, which may have been mildly overrated, Million Dollar Baby is as good as Unforgiven. Or, to put it another way, as good as any movie Eastwood has ever directed.
?? Copyright 2005 USA TODAY, a division of Gannett Co. Inc.
