Southpaw (Review)

Southpaw (2015)

Action, Drama, Sport

Directed By: Antoine Fuqua

There is something weirdly funny and ironic about the fact that we live in a time where boxing as a sport is more or less on the decline, yet cinematically it is as alive as it has ever been. In the same year we saw a Mayweather/Pacquiao fight get blasted by fans for being too boring we are seeing not only one, but two new boxing themed movies. We don't get to see Creed, the new Rocky-spin-off movie, until later this fall but this past weekend Antoine Fuqua's latest film Southpaw was released into theaters. A modern day Cinderella Man story, this flick takes us on a journey into the life and psyche of a championed fighter.

Billy Hope (Jake Gyllenhaal) is one of the best boxers in the world, he has just won the lightweight championship belt and it seemed his career couldn't go any higher. With a wife (Rachel McAdams) and kid (Oona Laurence) at home he contemplates leaving the ring behind him and focusing on his family. Even after a young up and coming fighter challenges him and his title he sucks down his pride and decides to take some time off. When tragedy strikes and his family are ultimately torn apart he begins to see that this fight may be his only option. After falling on the hardest of times he begins to realize his own mistakes and sets out to make them right, and maybe becomes the great fighter he once was again.

If you have successfully avoided the trailers for this film so far, continue to do so. This film suffered from an unfortunate marketing campaign that had the initial trailer spoiling the big plot points of the movie. I unfortunately saw this trailer when it was released and it ultimately killed a lot of my excitement for this film. Fortunately, what we saw in the trailer isn't what makes this movie entertaining. While Southpaw does it's best to work as a serious and informative drama, in the end it is the fight scenes and Jake Gyllenhaal that make this movie. Kurt Sutter (Sons of Anarchy) put together a decent enough script, even if it is filled with overused clichés and genre tropes, but it more or less just serves as a vehicle for Gyllenhaal to do what he does best.

Portraying the main character Billy Hope, Jake Gyllenhaal is as good as he has ever been. This guy is the super talent of our time and every role he takes he absolutely submerges himself into. Southpaw is no exception as he embodies this role in every sense. The way he puts forward the "punch drunk" mentality of a long time fighter is absolutely stunning and is one of the best examples we have seen of this to date. This movie is reliant on his performance and he makes it worth every penny. 

I don't think I have seen a boxing movie ever fail to get the fight scenes right but Southpaw does something I haven't really seen before. Where most movies of this nature make the fights as cinematic and intense as possible, this film tends to show them as if you were watching a real match. Of course there is more cinematography and production put into these fights but they choreograph them in such a way that they feel and look like an actual event playing on HBO. Most every punch is shown and thrown in real time instead of messing with slow motion and dramatic camera angles, often times the biggest blows of the match will come when you least expect it, just like in an actual fight.

The first and third acts are some of the best I have seen in a boxing movie; they are fast paced, action packed, and emotional. The middle of the film is a bit stale, unfortunately, as the dramatic aspect of this film often fails to grab you and pull you into the situation. It's not necessarily bad writing and definitely not bad acting but it is just a bit overdrawn. They could have easily trimmed twenty minutes from act two and I think the film would have been a whole lot better for it. They also kind of waste Rachel McAdams, who puts in an incredible performance but isn't in the film nearly enough. That being said, the addition of Forest Whitaker in the final act of the film is a wonderful treat and he plays a big part in lifting the end of this movie back up.

Southpaw may not be the most original and inspiring boxing movie we have seen, but it does a good job of exploring the psyche of a boxer and how the sport extends far from the ring and infects their everyday lives. Jake Gyllenhaal is phenomenal once again and I can only hope we don't see his named snubbed again from the nominee's this winter. Between his performance and the highly intense fighting scenes this movie is worth the price of admission. If you have the desire to see this film I recommend seeing it on a big screen, you can really feel the brutality of those punches when each fist is the size of your own head.

As always, thanks for reading and I am Zach Who Watches Movies. You can find me anytime on twitter @ZachWWMovies, smell ya later!