20 Movies You Weren't Expecting To Make You Cry

When people went into Million Dollar Baby, most probably expected a run-of-the-mill inspirational boxing drama. That most definitely isn't how things turn out.

The first hour-and-a-half goes more or less how you'd expect, and then rising boxing champ Maggie (Hilary Swank) is left paralyzed for life when she breaks her neck during a boxing match. And then, the final section of the film is a sombre and bruising meditation on euthanasia, as Maggie asks her trainer Frank (Clint Eastwood) to euthanize her, and he struggles with the ethics of this request. Ultimately, he follows through, and they share an emotional goodbye.

Is this one being so downbeat a good thing? Not necessarily. Maggie breaking her neck feels unearned, given that it was wildly contrived - if that stool had been even a centimetre further away, she'd have been fine - and by cramming this entire part of the film into half an hour, it fails to adequately explore the complicated and polarizing issue of euthanasia. 

Nevertheless, the bleak tragedy of Maggie's end and the powerful acting make it impossible not to be moved by Million Dollar Baby, flaws and all.