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OFCS Rating: 90% Fresh |
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| "Hilary Swank [deserves] an award in a new category for the most winning performance in the movie I'm least likely to watch again." |
| Blogcritics.org |
| Alan Dale |
| "Although a bit too predictable for me, 'Million Dollar Baby' held my interest throughout because of Morgan Freeman's humanistic performance and soothing narration." |
| ReelTalk Movie Reviews |
| Betty Jo Tucker |
A+ | "It takes place in a brutal sporting world, but pay no mind; Baby is intimate, tender, and an immaculately built drama." |
| FilmJerk.com |
| Brian Orndorf |
B | "Though Million Dollar Baby weighs in as another solid entry on Eastwood's resume, Paul Haggis's script stages a fixed fight." |
| AboutFilm.com |
| Carlo Cavagna |
| "Clint Eastwood elicits yet another remarkable performance from a young actor." |
| PopMatters |
| Cynthia Fuchs |
90/100 | "While we’ve come to expect a certain Spartan beauty to the look and feel of Clint Eastwood’s films, here he plumbs new emotional depths as both an actor and director." |
| Apollo Guide |
| Dan Jardine |
5/5 | "For Clint Eastwood, grim is good, very good." |
| eFilmCritic.com |
| Dan Lybarger |
5/5 | "There is no question about the status of Million Dollar Baby as a work that instantly ranks on the short list of Essential Eastwood." |
| eFilmCritic.com |
| David Cornelius |
A+ | "Leaves its mark not with a knockout blow, but with round after round of jabs that hit their mark
until there's nothing more left to save except one's dignity." |
| Ozus' World Movie Reviews |
| Dennis Schwartz |
3.5/4 | "Absolutely riveting entertainment. Takes a formulaic blueprint, tramples it to the floor, and comes up with something altogether more penetrating, touching, and real." |
| TheMovieBoy.com |
| Dustin Putman |
3.5/4 | "Another act of faith from Clint Eastwood, Million Dollar Baby may be the best American film of 2004." |
| Slant Magazine |
| Ed Gonzalez |
A+ | "The crowning achievement in an incredible career of a true American icon." |
| FilmJerk.com |
| Edward Havens |
4/5 | "¿Cómo no conmoverse cuando un gigante de hierro como Eastwood desnuda toda su vulnerabilidad emocional frente a la pantalla? El tipo se hace lágrimas, y nosotros con él." |
| Uruguay Total |
| Enrique Buchichio |
A | "The boxing-as-life metaphors that have permeated a thousand other stories never felt as true as they do in this beautiful, understated film. It is destined to become a classic" |
| EricDSnider.com |
| Eric D. Snider |
4/4 | "Million Dollar Baby may be the first boxing movie to take the cliché of life imitating the 'art' and make it not feel like just another line." |
| eFilmCritic.com |
| Erik Childress |
A | "More than forty years into his career, Clint Eastwood is still growing." |
| Film Blather |
| Eugene Novikov |
3.5/4 | "Eastwood is the ultimate sparring partner when it comes to his latest prize-winning knockout Baby...displays its badge of cynicism and quiet despair" |
| Movie Eye |
| Frank Ochieng |
A- | "The final third...transforms what had been a finely-tuned but somewhat conventional sports saga into a life-and-death tragedy of raw emotional power." |
| One Guy's Opinion |
| Frank Swietek |
5/5 | "An emotionally powerful drama about a woman boxer, a crusty old trainer, and their journey of the heart-one of the year's best" |
| Spirituality and Practice |
| Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat |
4/4 | "Turn convention upside down with its stirring portrayal of paternity, passion, mortality, and loyalty" |
| eCinemaCenter.com |
| Gabe Leibowitz |
3.5/4 | "Eastwood deserves another Best Picture nomination. Here's a man who has finally put Dirty Harry to rest." |
| ReelViews |
| James Berardinelli |
4/4 | "a lean, modern film noir that places a touching surrogate father-daughter relationship among the inky shadows and crumbling walls of a fading corner of Los Angeles" |
| Q Network Film Desk |
| James Kendrick |
1/5 | "Don't believe the hype about Clint Eastwood's boxing pic: This cliche-filled mess is a fixed fight." |
| Netflix |
| James Rocchi |
4/4 | "An uncompromising and darkly intimate portrayal of risk, resolution and dark, dark places." |
| Palo Alto Weekly |
| Jeanne Aufmuth |
8/10 | "[Has] a lot going for it: excellent performances, the director's unique touch, and yet another angle of commentary on America's institutionalization of violence." |
| Window to the Movies |
| Jeffrey Chen |
7/10 | "Bring Kleenex." |
| JoBlo's Movie Emporium |
| JoBlo |
4/4 | "Easily Mr. Eastwood's best film since Unforgiven." |
| Big Picture Big Sound |
| Joe Lozito |
4.5/5 | "Eastwood successfully camouflages this layered human morality tale as a boxing film" |
| ToxicUniverse.com |
| John A. Nesbit |
8/10 | "The movie is about fights and wounds and healings, beginnings and endings, that are not only physical but mental, psychological, spiritual." |
| DVDTown.com |
| John J. Puccio |
8/10 | "In a year of fairly disappointing year-end pictures, the pick of the litter." |
| Planet Sick-Boy |
| Jon Popick |
3 | ""It is worth stepping into the ring with this hard-hitting slugfest of a movie and go a few rounds until the ref mercifully calls the fight"" |
| Bangitout.com |
| Jordan Hiller |
4/5 | "what's great about Eastwood, is how he turns cliche to cinematic archetype, and throws in a modern twist at the same time" |
| Movies for the Masses |
| Joseph Proimakis |
4.5/5 | "Not a movie I would necessarily see again, saw twice, but while watching it, impossible to think about anything else." |
| Cinerina |
| Karina Montgomery |
4/5 | "It's above average. But it ain’t the greatest of the year. Sorry, Clint." |
| 7M Pictures |
| Kevin Carr |
3.5/4 | "I don’t feel the third act delivers the knock-out blow that’s intended, but it’s still a technical decision win for Eastwood, Swank and Freeman." |
| Montreal Film Journal |
| Kevin N. Laforest |
A- | "If the film doesn't sucker punch you on first viewing, its humanity is sure to haunt for days afterward" |
| Reeling Reviews |
| Laura Clifford |
5/5 | "Un Knock Out Cinematográfico" |
| Cinenganos |
| Luis Martinez |
3.5/5 | "A fine, understated piece of storytelling that earns every emotional body blow it lands." |
| TV Guide's Movie Guide |
| Maitland McDonagh |
3.5/4 | "A testament to Eastwood's ability to tell a story and find the human truth at its core." |
| Mark Reviews Movies |
| Mark Dujsik |
A | "Million Dollar Baby is an exceptional boxing movie, but Paul Haggis’ screenplay...amounts to something greater than the familiar underdog sports tale." |
| Reel Times: Reflections on Cinema |
| Mark Pfeiffer |
3.5/4 | "Not glitzy or glamorous, but solidly written, acted, and photographed" |
| Movie Habit |
| Marty Mapes |
| "[A] perfect, perfect film." |
| Flick Filosopher |
| MaryAnn Johanson |
4.5/5 | "[Eastwood] appears to be in the middle of a Luis Bunuel-sized career renaissance." |
| Goatdog's Movies |
| Michael W. Phillips, Jr. |
4/4 | "It doesn’t matter if you love boxing or hate it; Million Dollar Baby is a powerful and unforgettably human story." |
| Aisle Seat |
| Mike McGranaghan |
C | "Million Dollar Baby is a strong contender, but it suffers a TKO in the last round." |
| Movie Mom at Yahoo! Movies |
| Nell Minow |
A- | "Exhibits a gentle unaffected beauty and austere humanism." |
| Lessons of Darkness |
| Nick Schager |
5/5 | "Sombrio, complexo e instigante." |
| Cinema em Cena |
| Pablo Villaca |
4/5 | "This film has a quiet confidence that catches the rhythms of both a strong story and engaging performances" |
| Shadows on the Wall |
| Rich Cline |
2/5 | "This is Eastwood's weakest work in years, perhaps because it yokes itself to a hot-button theme instead of a story that resonates." |
| eFilmCritic.com |
| Rob Gonsalves |
A- | "[It] shines with the strength of true understanding, finding within its subject the riddles of life that every sports movie strives for, but only the best ever realize." |
| Flipside Movie Emporium |
| Rob Vaux |
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OFCS Rating: 90% Fresh |
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