Chapter 260 259. Rather than lingering on, it is better to burn out

At the Arclight Cinema, as the lights went out, movies such as "Million Dollar Baby", "The Polar Express" and "It's a Raid" opened at the same time.

The main event tonight is obviously the competition between MGM and Warner, but companies such as Paramount and Universal are also mixing it up by showing their own films.

However, they are generally not A-level blockbusters, because the current market environment does not allow three A-level blockbusters to be released on the same day.

Although Disney and Warner are very eager to rush in and defeat MGM, weaker companies such as Paramount, Fox, and Universal still have to consider their own revenue.

So their current strategy is to encircle MGM with a blockbuster every week. This week it is "The Polar Express", next week it is Fox's disaster blockbuster "The Day After Tomorrow", and the week after next it is Universal's sci-fi action blockbuster "Pitch Black 2".

I will compete with you with a big production every week, and the audience will naturally choose the new and fresher ones. Three weeks is enough to kill MGM's movies, not to mention that the investment in "Million Dollar Baby" is only 30 million US dollars.

Judging from investment, publicity, cast, genre and other aspects, there is no reason for sports-themed movies to win, even with the support of veteran Clint Eastwood.

No matter how awesome you are, you are just an old guy. Nowadays, most people who go to the movies are young people. After all, real movie lovers are a minority. Most of the audience just follow their feelings. They have not experienced the era of westerns and are not fans of an old man like you.

Morgan Freeman and Hilary Swank?

Haha, how many young people can be attracted to the cinema by a supporting actor and a female star who has good acting skills but is not really pretty? "We will definitely win!"

To Eric's right, Nicole squeezed his hand and whispered.

"Of course I will win!"

Wow. After the roar of the lion head, the movie officially begins.

As a sports-themed movie, "Million Dollar Baby" has a simple plot, but it is profound enough and breaks away from the traditional routines of general commercial films.

“People love violence!”

"They pass by the accident scene and slow down to see what the body looks like."

"This group of people like violence, and they also claim to like boxing."

"But they have no idea what real boxing is!"

"It's about human dignity. You win your own dignity while depriving your opponent of his dignity."

At the beginning of the movie, with Morgan Freeman's deep narration, a fierce fight is taking place on the boxing ring from an overhead shot.

Finally, when he finished the last sentence, the game was decided.

Morgan Freeman has a nickname, he is known as the man with the voice closest to God, so many movies like to let him read the narration or even play God directly.

This match showed the rich coaching experience of the protagonist Frankie Dunn, played by Uncle Dongmu, as he played a crucial role in his apprentice's victory.

After the game, the heroine Maggie, played by Hilary Swank, also appeared on the stage. She is a 31-year-old woman.

She started working at the age of 13, and today she is still working as a waitress in a restaurant, but she has her own dream, which is to stand in the boxing ring and win the gold belt.

To this end, she had to secretly pack up the leftover meat from the guests and eat it to supplement her nutrition. When she was discovered, she could only embarrassedly say that she took it home to feed the dog, not knowing that she was the dog.

After seeing Frankie on TV, Maggie thought that this old coach could help her become a real boxer, so she came to him for help.

"Coach Frankie, my name is Maggie. I'm a boxer. I've fought in amateur competitions and won. Have you seen it?"

Frankie left without even looking at her: "Miss, do I owe you money?"

"No!" Maggie hurried to catch up.

"Do I have an affair with your mother?"

"Ah? I hope so. In that case you should train me."

"What?"

"I want you to be my coach, train me, and turn me into a professional boxer!" Maggie said expectantly.

Frankie snorted and said with some disdain, "I don't take chicks."

"Maybe you should watch my fights. I'm a very powerful fighter, that's what everyone says."

"Girl, it's not enough to just be fierce when boxing!"

After saying this, Frankie ignored Maggie and left with his beloved disciple.

The next day, in Frankie's old boxing gym, the camera was focused on a young man played by Jay Baruchel.

He was full of passion for boxing, and he practiced by throwing punches quickly, and excitedly shouted: "I am boxer Butch, nicknamed Danger Boy, and I will become the lightweight champion!"

But then he was beaten up by Anthony Mackian's guest character, and his spirit was instantly worn down, and he ran away crying.

On the other hand, in order to gain Frankie's recognition, Maggie used her saved salary to pay for half a year's tuition and practiced alone in the boxing gym. Her lonely figure attracted the attention of Frankie and Eddie, played by Morgan Freeman.

But an expert can tell at a glance that Maggie has not received any professional training, and her so-called fierceness can only be regarded as a natural intuitive reaction.

But Frankie's current attention is on his favorite disciple, and he is almost annoyed by Maggie.

On the contrary, Eddie, who was also a former boxer, saw in Maggie the excellent quality of perseverance in pursuing her dreams.

At this point, the movie has been going on for 20 minutes, and it can be said that the plot is uneventful, and it is not an exaggeration to say that it is very cliché.

Due to the bland plot, even the three actors with superb acting skills did not have the opportunity to display their skills, and they could not show off their acting skills even if they wanted to.

In the audience, many people's attention has begun to wander, and several spies sent by the six major forces could not help but laugh in their hearts.

"Hehe. It seems that the boss is worrying too much. This is a mediocre movie no matter how you look at it. At least, there is no highlight to be seen at the moment."

"It's too cliché, the script is too cliché. I can already imagine what will happen next. Frankie will definitely train Maggie to win the championship, and then it will end happily."

"I think that's probably it. Unfortunately, this set of Rocky has been played out. It's not something that can be easily reproduced by changing the gender."

"Send a text message and tell the boss not to worry. The Polar Express is a sure win."

"Wait a minute, don't be impatient, let's wait and see, just in case."

On the big screen, Frankie and Eddie had a quarrel due to the betrayal of his favorite disciple.

"I trained him for eight years, eight whole years, and he turned to someone else!"

"Frankie, that's because you're holding him back. Willy is already strong enough to challenge the boxing champion, but you made him wait. He already had the strength two years ago. To be honest, I'm surprised he waited for you for two years."

"I just want him to be safe. I'm protecting him. I don't want him to rush into the game like you did back then and end up getting blinded in one eye!"

"But at least I tried, and I was on stage!"

Finally, more than half an hour into the movie, Frankie begins training Maggie.

As the two interact, Frankie's past is slowly revealed. He has a daughter who is as old as Maggie, but because of Frankie's problems, the relationship between father and daughter is very bad. He wrote countless letters, but they were returned by his daughter every time.

Seeing this scene, many people sighed again, it was still the same old-fashioned and cheesy plot.

After several months of training, Maggie had her actual combat experience. It turned out that Hilary Swank's three months of training were not in vain, as she performed all the moves very well.

Eric gave a thumbs up to Swank, who was sitting across the seat from him, praising her for her professionalism, and his mind couldn't help but recall the fear he once felt when he was dominated by "Sweet Crit".

Maggie is an explosive player with amazing talent. She often uses smooth little combos to KO her opponents.

She moved to Los Angeles, New York, Seattle and other cities, winning 12 consecutive victories in one go, and there were finally cheers in the cinema.

This is the kind of plot that the audience likes to watch. Everyone hopes that the protagonist will win and hopes to see the protagonist beat his opponent with a beating. Finally, the sense of satisfaction comes.

Seeing the audience's reaction, Gadot, Theron and other women finally breathed a sigh of relief. To be honest, they also felt that the movie was uninteresting and a bit too boring.

But my man has made such a big fuss today. If the movie is really mediocre, I'm afraid I'll lose face.

At this time, Hilary Swank finally had a chance to show off her acting skills.

Maggie's nose was broken by a punch from her opponent. The crisp cracking sound and the blood made many viewers frown.

But Maggie didn't want to give up the competition, so she asked Frankie to forcefully bend her nose back.

Unable to resist Maggie's pleading, Frankie stuffed a towel into Maggie's mouth and performed a technique. The pain of the process was perfectly portrayed by Hilary Swank, and everyone watching had their hair stand on end, as if their nose was broken.

“Take a deep breath!”

"What?"

"Suck the blood back! You must knock down the opponent within 20 seconds!"

With the belief that she would win, Maggie endured the severe pain and burst out. Many spectators relaxed when she knocked down her opponent.

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Then Maggie was about to go to Europe for a competition. Frankie made her a cape with a Gaulish word on it: Mokushile! Maggie lived up to expectations and defeated her opponent again. The heroine activated the cheat, and the movie suddenly seemed to enter the cool movie mode.

She took Frankie to the restaurant where she and her father had eaten together as children, symbolizing the father-daughter relationship between the two.

On the other hand, Maggie's family are all vampires who spend the money she earns from boxing without showing any gratitude, which highlights the preciousness of their relationship.

90 minutes into the movie, the heroine also faced the championship challenge.

The audience was eager to try, and some were looking forward to the upcoming big battle. The half-hour boxing match would definitely be exciting.

The person who plays Maggie's opponent is Lucia Ricoeur, a professional boxer invited by the crew. She is a real boxer, at the level of a boxing champion.

She won 36 out of 37 fights in her career and was called the female Tyson. She has a muscular body and a fierce and aggressive fighting style.

As soon as the match started, Maggie was suppressed and the audience was a little anxious, but it didn't matter, because everyone knew that she would beat her opponent quickly, just like Rocky.

The plot developed as the audience expected. Under Frankie's guidance, Maggie seized the opponent's weakness and punched wildly, leaving the opponent without any chance to fight back.

“Yeah!”

"That's it!"

Many viewers shouted excitedly, and then quickly shut up and focused on watching the movie.

But just when the audience thought that Maggie would take advantage of the victory, completely defeat her opponent and win the gold belt.

The opponent suddenly attacked from behind and knocked Maggie down with one punch. Her head suffered secondary damage and she fainted on the ring.

Then the scene changed and Maggie was lying on the hospital bed, paraplegic from the waist down, her life was over.

At this moment, not only the audience on the screen fell silent, but the audience outside the screen also fell silent.

What do you mean? This plot is wrong.

Why didn't they play by the rules? Shouldn't the heroine win the gold belt? What the hell is this about being beaten into paralysis?

"I understand. It must be that the heroine works hard to stand up again, and then stages a battle of revenge!" some viewers imagined.

But look at the time, there are less than twenty minutes left. Isn’t it a bit short?

"I think this movie will end when Maggie stands up, and then we'll have a sequel of revenge, that's for sure."

"Haha. If the movie is shot like this, do you think the box office will survive?"

"That's right. No, I don't quite understand what the director wants to do."

Nicole frowned, feeling something was wrong, and suddenly had a sense of crisis that she hadn't expected.

On the big screen, Maggie's muscles began to disappear due to being unable to move for a long time, her body began to shrink, and bedsores appeared under her arms.

This scene makes people feel a little sick. Thinking about the heroine who was full of energy just now, I can't help but feel distressed.

Frankie went to the best doctors, went to church to pray, and tried everything he could think of, but nothing worked.

It wasn't until the heroine's leg was amputated due to necrosis that the audience finally gave up their fantasy. Everyone knew that Maggie really couldn't stand up.

The blow of reality made Maggie want to seek relief. It is better to live standing up than to die on her knees! She bit her tongue to commit suicide, but the doctor found her and sutured the wound. Frankie also understood that this woman did not want to spend her life in bed.

This scene once again allowed Hilary Swank's acting skills to be fully displayed. The grief, despair, unwillingness, and stubbornness to face death were all expressed on her face.

"I can't go on like this. I've been through everything in life and seen the world."

"People were chanting my name, they were cheering for me."

"I never expected this to happen before. It's better to burn out than to linger on."

"Frankie, I don't want to make you do this, but I've got all I wanted."

"I don't want my dignity taken away from me!"

In front of the bed, the two had a heart-to-heart talk.

Frankie also said what Mokushile meant - my beloved, my flesh and blood! At this moment, many viewers felt their hearts being hit hard and their eyes became hot.

Knowing what Mokushile represented, Maggie’s last wish was fulfilled and tears fell from her eyes.

After gently kissing each other on the cheek, Frankie turned off Maggie's ventilator, injected her with medicine, and personally sent her away from the world.

After sending Maggie away, Frankie himself disappeared without a trace, and no one ever saw this old figure again.

Eddie stayed in the boxing gym, waiting for his friend to come back, although he didn't know whether Frankie would come back or if he had died somewhere.

Just when many spectators were feeling uncomfortable, the door of the boxing gym was pushed open.

The dangerous kid who left is back.

"Sir, I think you are right, everyone will experience failure, but I still want to win the gold belt."

"Then go train. You've been idle for a while."

"I'm boxer Butch, nicknamed Danger Boy, and I'll be the lightweight champion!"

Ultimately, the film seems to end with renewed hope.

When the lights came back on, the audience spontaneously applauded.

Looking at Hilary Swank who went on stage to thank the actress, Nicole clapped and expressed her feelings.

"Eric, I just suddenly felt a little worried, and now I understand why."

"Um?"

"She will be a strong competitor at the Oscars next year."

(End of this chapter)