Million Dollar Baby Blu-ray features mediocre video and audio in this still overall recommended Blu-ray release
"I don't train girls", trainer Frankie Dunn growls. But something's different about the spirited boxing hopeful who shows up daily at Dunn's gym. All she wants is a fighting chance. Clint Eastwood plays Dunn and directs, produces and composes music for this acclaimed, multi-award-winning tale of heart, hope and family. Hilary Swank plays resilient Maggie, determined not to abandon her one dream. And Morgan Freeman is Scrap, gym caretaker and counterpoint to Dunn's crustiness. Grab your dreams and come out swinging.
Have you ever heard the old axiom that says, "slow and steady wins the race?" That's exactly
true and an apt way of describing actor/director Clint Eastwood's (Unforgiven) 2004 film Million Dollar Baby, a film that garnered
four of the most sought-after Oscars that year, among them Best Picture, Best Director, Best
Actress (Hillary Swank, P.S. I Love You), and Best Supporting Actor (Morgan Freeman, The Bucket List). The film definitely paces itself well, a methodical and
deliberate journey to the front of the pack, paralleling the first half of the film. Once its in front,
the pace picks up a bit more, and all of a sudden the Earth stops spinning, the film blindsides the
audience, instantly changing the pace from one of "slow and steady" and "a good sprint" to a
dead stop, as the heart is yanked out of the audience in a turn of events during the third act of
the
film that ultimately proves to be one of the most difficult and traumatic viewing experiences ever.
Harder, harder! Pretend you're hitting that reviewer that didn't like 'The Reaping!'
Maggie Fitzgerald (Swank) is a poor Missouri girl who labels herself and her family as "trash," but
she has bigger dreams than living in a trailer or working in a diner for the rest of her life, living off
of
the scraps her customers leave behind. She's been in training for months, determined to become
a
professional female boxer. Frankie Dunn (Eastwood) is a boxing trainer and manager. Even
though
he's lost his most recent successful boxer to another manager, Maggie is determined to have
Frankie take her to the top. She's good, she believes. After all, she was the undercard on a
major
fight and won, but Frankie tells her that being "girlie" and "tough" isn't good enough. Maggie is
persistent nevertheless, receiving some help from Frankie's friend and former fighter Eddie
"Scrap-Iron" Dupris (Freeman), a man who once lost an eye after a fight and lives in a small
room in the
back of a gym, replete with a cot and small television set. Frankie eventually and reluctantly
agrees
to train Maggie, but places her in the care of another manager. During her first fight, the
manager fails to provide Maggie with the insights she needs to get herself back in the fight. He
quits, leaving Frankie as her manager, and his advise allows Maggie to knock out her opponent
almost immediately. Maggie becomes a fantastic fighter, so good, in fact, that Frankie has to pay
other managers off just to ensure she has an opponent. Eventually, Maggie will fight for the title
against a boxer with a reputation for being nasty, and winning the fight just might take more out
of Maggie and Frankie than they bargained for.
It's simply too difficult to discuss the true meaning behind the film as doing so would lead to a
spoiler that would significantly reduce the impact of the entire movie for the first-time viewer.
Needless to say, however, there are plenty of other areas on which to heap the praise. All four of
the Oscars Million Dollar Baby won are unquestionably deserved. As such, the Academy
has already given this film its due by awarding it the four statues, a reward far greater than
any words I could bestow upon the film, my recommendation being that you simply see the film
to understand. The movie's unexpected turn-of-events and melancholy first and third acts might
be just the kind of material that suits the Academy, but more so than the tone of the movie is
the sheer brilliance in which it sets everything up, the down home, anything-but-glitzy world that
the movie resides in fits thematically with where the movie is taking us, almost anything other
than drab and lifeless would make the film's final act simply overbearing and too much to handle.
From Morgan Freeman's deadpan narration to the dark, depressing, dull, almost colorless interior
of the gym, the shadows that cover so much of the image, all courtesy of the fantastically
reserved yet powerful cinematography of Tom Stern, Million Dollar Baby does all it can
from a visual and aural perspective to brace us for the film's final act, an act we can still barely
stomach, one so heart and gut wrenching that it's almost too hard for the first-time viewer to sit
through. While it is hard to imagine the movie causing in the viewer a desire to screen the film
multiple times in a short period, the replay value is there, though its obviously best absorbed with
large gaps in between viewings. The performances alone, and the nuances and layers of meaning
that can be found upon subsequent viewings make the movie worth owning, but its too tough a
watch to keep in a regular rotation.
Million Dollar Baby's 2.35:1, 1080p high definition transfer puts up a good fight, but
ultimately fails to come up on top. Reviewing these older catalogue titles can prove challenging.
What may have been a solid picture a year-and-a-half ago, when there were far fewer
Blu-ray discs with which to compare it, may only now be considered a mediocre one,
dwarfed in stature by
the likes of I Am
Legend or Saawariya. Likewise, we'll undoubtedly see transfers that make this pair
of current 5-star reference discs seem like average material at some point in the future. This
transfer of Million Dollar Baby just doesn't hold
its own against the best of the best, but a lower score doesn't mean the transfer is a total loss.
While it may ultimately be a disappointment next to its Blu-ray contemporaries, it still looks good
nevertheless, the disc still superior to its DVD counterpart and a solid yet unremarkable image in
high definition. This Blu-ray disc does offer up some very good black levels, though detail seems
to be lost due to crushing in some of the darkest scenes, of which there are many throughout
the movie. Brighter, outdoor scenes can appear washed out at times, such scenes playing in
stark
contrast to the generally dull and dark look of the majority of the picture. Colors are solid, but
again
somewhat faded, and judging them against the look and tone of the movie as a whole, I'd wager
they are meant to look a bit worn and devoid of color. Flesh tones never present a problem,
another plus for the transfer. The interior of the gym is the primary set piece through the first
half of the movie, and we can definitely see that the environment is replete with small nooks an
crannies, a brick façade with a texture and life all its own, and a nice hardwood floor, but we
never see the nitty gritty, fine details, the transfer never really stepping up to make the
environment
a living, breathing locale. Instead, it's just another set, simply a background in which the action
takes place. Don't let my video score fool you. Million Dollar Baby is no slouch when
it comes to its Blu-ray presentation, but ranking it any higher would be a disservice to the scores
earned by the higher-quality transfers we're seeing released to the market on a weekly basis,
some 18 month after this
film's initial release on Blu-ray. The transfer presents a good-looking, "theatrical" image,
but the best Blu-ray has to offer it simply is not.
Warner Brothers brings Million Dollar Baby to Blu-ray with a Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack
that is paltry and spiritless much of the time. Frankly, the subdued soundtrack suits the
melancholy mood of the film perfectly, though I have no doubt the presentation could have been
tighter and somewhat more dynamic with a lossless presentation. The film's score is a good one,
playing well to the material and fitting in so well that at times we forget its even there, playing
ever so softly in the background. Dialogue reproduction is solid yet slightly muffled at times, the
raspy and reserved voices of Clint Eastwood and Morgan Freeman definitely not helping. The
soundstage can be very quiet at times with no ambience or presence in the rear channels to be
heard. During some of the smaller, less significant fight scenes we hear a bit of crowd and
stadium noise in the rear, making the listening experience a pleasing one, but definitely not a
powerful or engaging one. Even the louder, bigger fights with a sizable crowd don't offer up much
in the way of exciting sound, other than taking what we heard before and seemingly cranking the
volume up several notches. Even a scene when Maggie enters the ring accompanied by a pair of
bagpipes isn't all that exhilarating, the disc failing to excite the senses to a level higher than a
cursory "OK, that sounded nice" reaction. The subwoofer rarely makes its presence known, the
first time I truly noticed some deep rumblings were in chapter 25 as Maggie faces off with her
toughest boxing opponent of the film. This sound mix is good enough to keep you engaged in
the
film, but it'll never do anything to stand out from the crowd, either.
For a film that garnered the awards this one did, it comes as a bit of a surprise that Warner Brothers
has let Blu-ray fans down with this paltry set of extras. Round one features James Lipton Takes
on Three (480p, 24:45), a candid discussion between Oscar winners Clint Eastwood, Morgan
Freeman, and Hillary Swank with James Lipton, host of the television series Inside the Actor's
Studio. The questions are direct and definitely not of the variety we generally see where the
interviewer throws the cast and crew softballs to be hit out of the park. These questions are
genuine and sometimes hard, a breath of fresh air in a world of pre-fabricated and generic
making-of pieces. Round two features Born to Fight (480p, 19:13), a lesser piece that
looks at the
world of boxing and why people around the globe are drawn to the sport with the primary cast
discussing the topic at hand and how it integrates into the film. Finally, the third and final round
offers Producers Round 15 (480p, 13:05), an interesting and captivating look at the origins
and development of Million Dollar Baby from conception to script to shooting to its release
to critical acclaim.
What Clint Eastwood has done here is nothing short of creating a film for the ages, an all-time
great masterpiece that pulls no punches, a film that tries to accomplish nothing more than to tell
a simple, real
story, reminding us that not everything is peaches and cream, that life can take from us it what
it wants, when it wants, and no matter how tough we may think we are, every second is a gift, a
gift that can be pulled from under our feet at any moment, no matter who we are or what we do.
Million Dollar Baby is a film that simply has to be seen, and I regret having to write as
much as I did, as I feel the movie's emotional impact is best experienced going in completely cold
and unaware as to what it's about, allowing the film to unfold before you. Warner Brothers has
brought this film to
Blu-ray in a package that is acceptable, but it is far from being one of the the best discs available.
The film's look,
however, is complimented well here. Million Dollar Baby is anything but a glitzy, shiny
film, the kind that seem to benefit the most from high definition. While this disc is a marked
improvement over previous editions, it still has room for improvement, as does the lossy audio
track. The supplements are also slim, making the package on the whole only a moderately good
one. Hopefully, Warner will re-release this film somewhere down the line in a better looking and
sounding edition with the set of extras it deserves. Until then, I do recommend this disc if it can
be found at a discount, or as a rental. Either way, the movie is one that deserves to be seen.
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