*Originally written August, 2015*
Boxing films are not made that often these days, after the success of Rocky, there's not much more you can do with the subject, so I guess that's why you rarely see them about. While Southpaw brings nothing new to the sports drama genre, its powerhouse performance from Jake Gyllenhaal, engrossing story and sense of style elevate it above its clear cliches.
Gyllenhaal's boxer Billy Hope is a successful boxer on the top of his game when he his cut down by a tragedy and forced to care for his daughter while grieving and training for a lightweight championship belt. It's a cliche story that you would have heard before or similar, but that doesn't mean it is a failure. Things don't need to be original to be good, Southpaw proves that.
Jake Gyllenhaal here further shines his talent as one of, if not the best actor working today (His performance in last years Nightcrawler is one of the best examples of acting ever). He is an absolute work of raw fury here, the dedication he puts into his role is incredible. He handles the boxing scenes extremely well and pulls at the heart strings with the smaller, more emotional moments with his daughter. I was also very surprised by Oona Laurence who plays the daughter Leila, good child actors are hard to come by and she did an excellent job here, especially during the one on one scenes with her and Jake Gyllenhaal.
Forest Whitaker appears as a trainer who runs a gym for dis-privileged children. He was good, nothing amazing, his character might have been a walking cliche, but he was fine. The gorgeous Rachel McAdam's was great in her short role as Billy's wife Maureen.
Antoine Fuqua directs the boxing scenes with raw brutality and realism and keeps the film rolling at a decent pace. I was surprised to see the film was written by Kurt Sutter (Creator of the biker drama Sons of Anarchy), the script may have had a few cheesy and cliche lines here and there, but it worked. The music was also composed by the late and great James Horner, who sadly delivered a very forgettable soundtrack.
It might not be the most original film, but Southpaw is an extremely worthy addition to the sports drama genre with its Oscar worthy performance from Jake Gyllenhaal, Fuqua's direction and excellently paced story of redemption.
8/10 Dans
Watch the trailer below:
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