Southpaw

Starring: Jake Gyllenhaal, Rachel McAdams, Forest Whittaker, Oona Laurence, 50 Cent, Skylan Brooks, Naomie Harris, Miguel Gomez, Victor Ortiz, Rita Ora
Directed by: Antoine Fuqua
Rating: R
Genre: Action, Drama, Sport
2015

Times Seen:
Tim: 1

Summary: A boxer (Jake Gyllenhaal) must fight for survival after a brutal turn of events causes him to lose almost everything.

Review:

Tim: Southpaw will never be included in the upper echelon of boxing movies, but it's a perfectly serviceable, entertaining film. It doesn't remotely approach greatness, but it does enough to considered a solid, watchable film.

While the whole story was a bit on-the-nose, I generally liked the idea of following a boxer from the very pinnacle of his career, watching him fall about as low as possible, then fighting his way out of that hole. It's a decent character arc and although it's all very predictable, it makes for an entertaining journey.

The film is helped by some strong performances. I thought Jake Gyllenhaal was good as Billy Hope. He did an impressive job of transforming his body for the role and looked the part. I really appreciate that Gyllenhaal doesn't just go for the easy roles- each choice he makes seems deliberate, asking him to do something different as an actor. That perspective may allow him to be one of the all-time greats some day. His performance here might not be among his best, but it's a solid, workable performance. He certainly didn't sleepwalk through this one- you can feel the intensity and energy he brought to the performance. Rachel McAdams was well cast. Although her role is "the wife", it was a meatier role than many similar ones. She made a lasting impact on the film. Forest Whittaker was a great choice as a boxing coach- I really like him, as like always, he makes the movie better. 50 Cent was actually pretty good in the film, considering he has very little talent as an actor. I was surprised I didn't hate his performance.

Like the best sports movies, the actual sport itself is secondary. Yes, this is a boxing movie, and yes, we get a number of good boxing sequences. However, this movie does attempt to put the characters first and have the boxing scenes support character development. While I never really felt an especially close connection to Billy Hope (it wasn't nonexistent, just not quite as strong as I'd like) or the other characters, I was interested in seeing how their stories progressed. The movie eventually becomes a father/daughter story and I appreciated that aspect of it.

The boxing scenes are good, but there wasn't much that we haven't seen before. They were entertaining and well shot, although there wasn't a whole lot of suspense. The fights play out mostly as you would expect. The predictability of the plot is certainly a detriment. There are some exciting moments, but the film is lacking those real stand-up-and-cheer moments. One of the biggest complaints I have about the movie is that it just follows a well-worn path with no real attempt to do anything different or special. It wasn't going to wow us with something new, and the execution of what we get was only good (never great). That translates into a film that is watchable, but ultimately a bit forgettable.

Southpaw is a good movie, but it doesn't do enough to really stand out. If someone asked if I'd recommend it, I would certainly say yes. However, this isn't the type of film you go out of your way to recommend. It's good, but that's it.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: 7



If You Enjoyed This Movie, We Recommend: Creed, Jarhead, Rocky