Million Dollar Baby (Deluxe Edition) (DVD)

I would have thought a film that won four Oscars including Best Picture, Actress, Director and Supporting Actor would have garnered a much more illustrious special edition DVD, but while the movie is still phenomenal the special features are a waste of time and in no way is a second disc necessary as the three featurettes barely last a grand total of 60 minutes.

Million Dollar Baby was a film that knocked my socks off when I saw it in theaters. I was not a fan of Mystic River in any way and I had my doubts about MDB considering it was a Clint Eastwood film and I was just assuming that critics were licking his boots just because of the name Eastwood, but that was in no way the case.

This film is a triumph as it masterfully captures the drama, action and emotion of some trying times as a female boxer displays passion, desire and resilience against all odds and an aging boxing trainer finds something that has been missing from his life for such a long time.

Million Dollar Baby is being released in two separate editions, a regular 2-disc edition as well as a 3-disc collector's edition, and the only difference is that the collector's edition contains the movie's motion picture soundtrack and to be honest it isn't enough to garner the title of Collector's Edition.

The special features offered are limited to two featurettes and a short roundtable interview as James Lipton of "The Actor's Studio" sits down with Freeman, Swank and Eastwood. The two featurettes take a look at the movie in comparison to real-life female boxer Lucia Rijker and is probably the most valuable and informative piece on the disc and the second featurette is primarily focused on talking about how great Clint Eastwood is and how marvelous everything in the movie is without really offering up any kind of information or inside bits whatsoever.

Overall, Million Dollar Baby is a must own DVD, however the Collector's Edition is the way to go unless you find Clint Eastwood's work on the melodramatic score something to marvel. The special features in no way needed to be put on a second disc as the small amount of footage available could have easily fit on the first disc considering the movie is barely over two hours and the bonus features barely reach 60 minutes.

I whole-heartedly recommend you purchase this film, but my recommendation is to go for the cheaper of the two and buy the 2-Disc Special Edition.