Okay, I actually caught this one last week, but I've allowed some time to pass for me to collect my thoughts regarding the film. In any case...

"Million Dollar Baby," the latest from director/star/legend Clint Eastwood, is one of those rare dramas we're treated to every once in a while. At first glance, it's just another sports flick, with an eager amateur prospect fresh from skid row striving to overcome adversity and prove their worth, and hopefully win a championship along the way. But in the end, it's so much more...

In this instance, our would-be champ is Maggie Fitzgerald (Hilary Swank), a 30-year-old waitress from "somewhere between nowhere and goodbye." Actually, it's rural Missouri, deep in the heart of trailer park country. Maggie wants nothing more than to leave behind a life of living hand-to-mouth in a neverending series of waitressing gigs.

To this end, she approaches grizzled, weathered boxing trainer Frankie Dunn (Eastwood), in the hopes that he might show her the ropes. Frankie, a staunch traditionalist, wants no part in training a girl, especially not a past-her-prime 30-year-old. But, wouldn't you know it, Maggie persists, finding a sympathetic ear -- and some boxing pointers -- in Eddie "Scrap" Dupris (Morgan Freeman), one of Frankie's old fighters, who now maintains Frankie's gym.

In the meantime, Frankie's got his own issues to deal with, not the least of which is the fact that he just lost his number-one fighter to another manager. You see, Frankie is also very protective of his proteges, and had several times refused this particular fellow a shot at a title bout. "Just one more year, and then you'll be ready."

Faced with this, Frankie begrudingly agrees to take Maggie on. It's a decidely rocky relationship at first, but as time goes by, and Maggie comes into her own as a fighter, the two get along famously. Soon Maggie is ascending the ranks, knocking out everything that comes her way. Before long, she's on top of the world.

And then the real film begins, and, once it's got its hooks in you, there's no backing out. It immediately goes from being merely a decent boxing film to something infinitely more complex. To say anything more would be to ruin it, but, suffice to say, it's one of the most involving films I've seen in the past year.

If you like uncompromising, hard-hitting drama, then see this film.