Million Dollar Baby ****
Cast: Clint Eastwood, Hilary Swank, Morgan Freeman
Director: Clint Eastwood
Running Length: 2:17
MPAA Classification: PG-13

Maggie Fitzgerald (Swank) has a dream to be a professional boxer. She seeks out gym owner Frankie Dunn (Eastwood) to be her trainer. He quickly turns her down because he doesn't train girls and she is too old anyway. Of course, Maggie is determined, and with the help of Frankie's long-time friend Eddie Dupris (Freeman), she is able to win him over in a weak moment. Soon, with Frankie's training, Maggie finds herself winning match after match.

A strong father-daughter relationship develops between the two. Maggie's dad is dead, and Frankie's daughter will not speak to him. The relationship is a second chance for both, and is the emotional core of the movie.

Clint Eastwood has crafted yet another fine movie with "Million Dollar Baby". There is more to it than a first glance would lead you to believe, and even if it is manipulative at times, it is done so well that it is not a detriment. The trio of actors that are the core of the movie are amazing both alone and together. The ease with wich Eastwood, Swank, and Freeman interact is so real that you will feel drawn to them, faults and all. This is a great boxing movie, perhaps the best since the original "Rocky", but "Million Dollar Baby" is about more than just boxing. To share more than this would be to spoil a movie that deserves a fresh viewing, but let's just say that the final act of the movie has another focus that is thought provoking.

This is a movie that will give you something to think about and debate for long after you leave the theater. "Million Dollar Baby" is more than the sum of its parts, and is well deserving of the Oscar nominations that have been heaped on it.