Million Dollar Baby [Blu-ray]

Play good and it's the full movie

Great movie

This movie surpassed the art form, it moved me, and I haven't recovered yet. First off the performances, the plot and directing, the videography all of it was stellar. It's never wrong to have Morgan Freeman as the narrator but to then get him in a key supporting role and use the narration in such a moving twist at the end was beautiful. The part of a grumpy old man, haunted by past decisions only to be melted by a persistent diamond in the rough seems almost purpose built for Clint Eastwood. He still put his art form into the part, giving it just the right amount of sandy grit mixed with an overwhelming fatherly affection just waiting to spill out. I must confess that I had not followed Hillary Swank much up to this movie but I'm a fan now. She gradually transforms throughout the movie into the different roles. The transitions seem natural, unforced, and subtle enough that we are not left wondering where that came from. Part of that is helped by the amazing directing and plot that set up the story so beautifully. -----Spoilers------ The plot starts by building the landscape for the story setting up the boxing gym where Eastwood's character trains champions yet he still looks after his friends in a gruff, unyielding manner. We are given glimpses of his indirect kindness which ends up being his weakness as he can't stand to see his friends get hurt and blames himself when they are. Because of his hesitance to set up higher level fights his star fighter leaves for a manager who will take him places. It's on the back of this upsetting revaluation that we meet a girl from the Midwest who sees him and decides he needs to be her fighting coach. She hasn't much but her own stubbornness to recommend herself and he flatly turns her down in a way that lets her know he would be embarrassed to train a woman. It was irritating, overtly obvious, offensive, and sad all at once. Swank shrugs off the insult and to her characters credit pushes on training herself at that very same gym paying 6 months dues ahead and working as a waitress at a dinner to get by. She is seen collecting scraps of food left by patrons doing whatever she needs to in order to get by. She befriends Morgan Freeman the gyms janitor an close friend to Eastwood's character who owns the place where he coaches his other fighters. Eastwood's character is eventually goaded into coaching her by the sheer pain of watching her do it wrong over and over, he can't stand it any longer and agrees to coach her until she's good enough to fight then she would be handed off to a manager so he could be rid of her and his name wouldn't be associated with her. It doesn't go as planned because on her first fight it's clear she was set up by the manager to fail and boost the ratings of the other fighter. Eastwood couldn't just stand by and watch it happen, his tender caring instincts take over and he ends up coaching her and managing her through the rest of the movie. My favorite seen was actually when Freeman sees that Swank is ready for the big leagues and warns her that Eastwood is holding her back. Freeman even sets it up for Swank to meet the very manager who took on Eastwood's last protégé but she decides to remain loyal to Eastwood and sticks with him. We learn that Eastwood has a daughter that he is estranged from and that he is actually writing her many letters that are all returned to sender. This heart break is the obvious cause of his fatherly affection for Swank that keeps becoming more and more obvious as the movie goes on. Eastwood even gives her a Gaelic fighting name "Mo Chuisle" which supposedly stands for "My Darling, My Blood". Swank doesn't know the meaning of it at the time and though she asks Eastwood what it means, he refuses to tell her and she honors him by not asking anyone else. That blind loyalty on her part and his affectionate fathering is what marks their relationship and touches the hearts of all who watch it. Few stories feature this type of familiar love, this deep feeling, this blind loyalty that we see here between two people who have unofficially adopted each other for lack of anyone other family that truly cared. Swank is eventually injured by a dirty swing by a stronger opponent after the bell, an injury that leaves her quadriplegic. Eastwood sticks with her through it all but she is left on a ventilator bedridden and eventually the bead sores get so bad she loses a leg to them. Her family show up only to get her to sign papers giving her estate to her mother. She is left in a rehab center unable to do anything for herself with only Eastwood there for her. The idea of living like that after having ridden a wave of fame throughout the world of boxing tormented her to the point that she begs Eastwood to end it for her. When he refuses she tries to take her own life by biting her tong. Eastwood feels responsible for her current state as it is and can't bare to see her like that but he knows he will also not be able to bare the burden of ending her life either. He wrestles with the decision before giving in. His last words to her was him telling her the meaning of the Gaelic and reassuring her that he would do as she asked. The moral dilemma was heavy, powerful and just long enough for the audience to connect with it and feel the pain of the decision. It is not a decision I believe was right, it is not something I think we should applaud, but it was what happened in this story and at least we see that the character isn't unaffected by it. He bears the full weight of the decision and never recovers. The narrator then dampens the blow to the viewers by lending us a shred of hope that there may be some ending that did turn out ok for Eastwood but it's left to our imagination. We are left to ponder the value of human life, the importance of loving family, the power of loyalty and perseverance, and the beauty of love and the tragedy of loss. Let me just say to all involved, thank you. This work was powerful, beautiful, and moving; well done and congratulations!

Excellent movie , watched it twice great story of resilience and loyalty

Fantastic movie, No idea why it took me so long to rent this.

This is certainly one of my very favorite Clint Eastwood movies and I had been greatly looking forward to seeing it on Blu Ray as opposed to my Standard Def version. I do not write plot summaries or analysis of characters as so many always do, and I do not want to be redundant, so this review will strictly be regarding the transfer to Blu Ray. The video transfer is the star of the disc as it is as clean as a whistle. There is no distracting grain, no artifacting, aliasing or ghosting anywhere. While this is not a comparison between the standard def version and the blu ray, with the blu ray you will find deeper blacks, perhaps even crushed a bit, and more true to life coloration. The film switches between a cool and warm color grading depending upon the scene and all is very appropriate. While the standard def release was pretty good there is a considerable improvement to the entire look of the film. If your TV passes pluge, you will be surprised at how what might have been gray before is now a true black. Really well done. The audio, which I am always aware of, provides some very nice editing with discreet steering to all channels for foley fx and a full front and rear sound stage. Never the less, the audio is the reason why my rating is at 4 stars instead of 5. For some inane reason, the producers of the Blu Ray transfer did not provide an lossless soundtrack. Instead you get a Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack. While many might not notice the difference, once you get used to a lossless audio track as most, not all, sound tracks are for Blu Rays, it is hard not to be cognizant of listening to a compressed soundtrack. It is like listening through a veil. However, the audio on the blu ray is nicely balanced so that you will not have to play roller coaster with your remote's volume setting but it could, and should have, had an uncompressed soundtrack which really would make a big difference for most any sound system. Some decent extras here as well with a documentary on how the movie came to fruition from script to shooting, another addressing the reasons some go into boxing and more. No deleted scenes or bloopers but, at least, no advertising previews for other movies. All in all, though I am very disappointed in the lack of a DTS MA or PCM 5.1 soundtrack, this blu ray is worth the purchase even though there is not a huge night and day difference between the SD and BR releases. Glad I have it but if they ever come out with an uncompressed audio release, you can be sure I would buy it again. Hopefully, this review has been of some help to you in determining your purchase. Thanks

I like very much the movies Clint Eastwood have done within 15 or so years: he has become a serious film director. The most of his older age movies I have liked the great western-movie The Unforgettable, the fine (I should say "chehovian") crime-movie the Mystic River and this last, the sad and beautiful film about the world of female boxing: I think, it's a great work of art, and a very very american artwork. All three of them were very good, Clint himself the way he is, Morgan Freeman in the role of sadful storyteller, and especially Hillary Swank, the new good actress in American cinema (the same week, I offered this dvd, I happened to see the quite good film from Finnish television, in which Hillary Swank was in the [again very sad] role of a transsexual, and very good in it). I think, Million Dollar Baby is quite the best, the big american film-industry can offer today: I saw the Aviator by Martin Scorsese the same week I saw Million Dollar Baby, and I saw few months ago The Collateral by Michael Mann: they were all good films, but the Aviator has already flushed from my mind completedly and the Collateral seems to me tough and electrified and "too cool", when the film of Clint Eastwood is deep and has something fresh to say. I shouln't have guessed I could like the movie about so brutal topic so very much. It's genuine and beautiful.

Million Dollar Baby is a very emotional film to experience. Many viewers have said that after their initial viewing, it is a film they likely will never watch again. They say that not because the film is bad...it certainly is not....but because of the severe emotional impact of its final scenes has. You are not sure how the story will end, and when it does, you feel a punch to your gut and a pain in your heart