Movie Review: Southpaw

Action/Drama/Sport

Rated – MA15+

Duration – 124mins

Release – August 2015

Director – Antoine Fuqua

Writer – Kurt Sutter

Cast – Jake Gyllenhaal, Rachel McAdams, Forest Whitaker, Curtis ‘50 Cent’ Jackson, Oona Lawrence
Mr Knight

I wasn’t in the mood for Southpaw when Mrs Knight and I walked into the cinema to find our seats. The movie brought in a highly testosterone filled patronage, who at many stages of this movie thought they were in their lounge rooms, and like James Gandolfini in 'Enough Said', were unable to master the skill of whispering, as if to provoke someone to tell them to “shut it!” so they could prove their own Southpaw talents and take it outside.

But despite the crowd I gave it a good chance. Southpaw is the story of a completely shredded Jake Gyllenhaal playing undefeated boxing champion Billy Hope, who is coming to the end of his stellar career and finding his wins more from being a human punching bag, then showing any finesse.

Hope, brought up in the foster care system for most of his childhood, with lifelong partner and wife Maureen Hope (Rachel McAdams) shows that a man from the wrong side of the tracks, without education or money, can make it big. Hope, surrounded by his orphanage entourage, his young daughter Leila (Oona Lawrence) and his manager Jordan Mains (Curtis ‘50cent’ Jackson) comes to a point where he needs to assess his future. Jordan Mains looks at Hope and sees dollar signs, and his wife Mo believes it’s time to hang up the gloves.

Not long after Hopes last fight a personal tragedy strikes, leading Hope down a rabbit hole of hell, showing people around him that despite all his success Hope has zero support. Banned from boxing, bankrupt and losing custody of his daughter, Hope hits rock bottom and as he needs someone to pick him up, others in his life simply jump over him.

I found all characters in this movie unlikable for the first hour which made it hard to feel for Hope, or even understand him with any empathy. However, all his failures force him back to his roots and Hope finds himself sitting in a small time local boxing gym run by a previous opponents boxing coach, Tick Wills (Forest Whitaker).

From this point onward the movie started to drag me in and make me want Hope to succeed and grow emotionally. Forest Whitaker added a touch of class to the movie and his coaching methods and ability to change Billy Hope, for any sports fan, was enjoyable to watch.

Oona Lawrence playing Billy Hope’s young daughter Leila, was brilliant. Lawrence, who has also featured in the popular television series Penny Dreadful, showed a great range of emotion and really made me feel, where her trashy mothers character Mo, played by Rachel McAdams could not. I believe Oona Lawrence has a bright and successful future ahead. ‘50 cent’ needs to stick to what he knows. I love his music. I don’t love his acting. I wanted to rip that stupid hat he wears all movie straight off his head!

The movie started out to me as the tale of a man who didn’t think for himself, appreciate what he had, and consider his family and his future, which resulted in me completely disliking him. Whether that was by design or not, it was effective in me coming over to his corner after Gyllenhaal’s Billy Hope hits his lowest point and drives himself to be better.

In the end Gyllenhaal’s Hope along with Forest Whitaker’s coach Wills, Oona Lawrence’s Leila and even a small role of child protection officer played by Naomie Harris, famous for Skyfall and Pirates of the Caribbean, swayed me to be a big fan of Southpaw in the end.



 
Mrs Knight

Walking into the cinema, all I knew about Southpaw was that it’s a boxing film with a good soundtrack, notably Eminem. This was all I needed to know to make me want to see it. From the first scene I was hooked. I quickly realised it was going to be so much more than originally anticipated.

The film follows boxer Billy ‘the great’ Hope (Jake Gyllenhaal), and his journey as he struggles to deal with a tragic accident. He has to fight (literally) to gain custody of his daughter and gain his life back after hitting absolute rock bottom. Without giving too much away, I struggled to watch some scenes it was so heartbreaking. I was completely enthralled in the story and all of the acting was incredibly believable. I even shed a tear... or two...

I loved the rough, arrogant nature of Gyllenhaal’s character. I was glued from the very start when he was yelling into the camera during the fight. He played the character brilliantly and sure has come a long way from his Donnie Darko days. Don’t get me wrong, I loved Donnie Darko, but I have also enjoyed watching him develop as an actor. He wasn’t the only star in this film. Rachel McAdams plays his long time love and wife Maureen. Who knew she could play a rough around the edges, rich wife so well. She nailed it. Oona Laurence who plays their daughter Leila, also did a brilliant job and I would expect to see her again soon. Her range of emotion was believable and I felt my heart breaking with her.

Forest Whitaker is the savour trainer, Tick Wills, who teaches Billy Hope how to defend and brought him back to a good place both physically and mentally. Whitaker was a great character and a softer side that the film needed. Kudos to the makeup artist and costume designer as well. In my opinion everything was spot on believable and overall a well-made film. I do realise not many reviewers agree with my opinion, but I don’t care!

Eminem’s song was played at the perfect time during the classic training montage seen in all sports movies. Although the storyline might be all too familiar for a boxing film, I enjoyed every minute. Gyllenhaal’s performance (and body) truly was ‘Phenomenal’.