Reviews

Maggie is the point of view character, but the character arc belongs to Frankie and I found it a bit underwhelming in the end.

The whole first act involving Swank trying to convince Eastwood to train her takes a bit too long - we know you've got to have at least some resistance on his part and it allows us to build the characters, but the characters don't have that much depth to need this long a film.

It is the slow burn of the relationship between Frank and Maggie that makes up the crux of this movie, as Frank not only begins to care for Maggie but also discovers she does have talent as a boxer, but tragedy intervenes, destroying Maggie's career, but not the relationship between Maggie and Fran...

...the film actually becomes something of it's own in the third act, which is the best part of the film.

I've never thought much of Eastwood as an actor, and cannot conceive as to how he managed to get nominated for his role here, but his inclusion in the Best Director category of tomorrow's Oscars is entirely deserved.

Theres Frankie Dunn (Clint Eastwood), a grizzled veteran boxing trainer with a past full of regret and sorrow, Maggie Fitzgerald (Hilary Swank), a 30-something-year-old waitress that dreams of escaping a life of unhappiness and monotony, and Eddie Scrap Dupris (Morgan Freeman), the boxer who was tra...