Despondent over a painful estrangement from his daughter, trainer Frankie Dunn isn't prepared for boxer Maggie Fitzgerald to enter his life. But Maggie's determined to go pro and to convince Dunn and his cohort to help her.
Barely a year after the release of Mystic River, Clint Eastwood delivers a second consecutive drama that fearlessly probes the shadows of human morality without falling back on easy answers.
– David Germain,
Associated Press,
24 Feb 2013
fresh:
It is thoughtful, unfashionable, measured, mostly honest, sometimes clumsy or remote, often exciting, occasionally moving and eventually surprising. It's correct.
– Joe Morgenstern,
Wall Street Journal,
24 Feb 2013
rotten:
It's impressive, in the sense that a sucker-punch impresses itself on your skull.
– David Edelstein,
Slate,
24 Feb 2013
fresh:
As an actor, Eastwood has rarely taken on a character as complex as Frankie Dunn.
– David Ansen,
Newsweek,
10 Jan 2014
rotten:
The only differences between this new film and its many forebears are that the young hopeful is a woman and the finish is unforeseen.