Southpaw Movie Review

Southpaw is directed by Antoine Fuqua and stars one of my favourite actors Jake Gyllenhaal as Billy Hope, a successful and undefeated boxer who's life, after a tragedy befalls him, begins to fall apart. It's then up to Billy to rebuild his broken life and find redemption in the boxing ring. On a surface level, Southpaw is a very cliché boxing movie with all of the tropes you would expect to find within this sub genre of film. However, it knowingly embraces it's clichés and is an overall entertaining film to watch, if not a tough one to get through.

The direction of Antoine Fuqua and the screenplay from Kurt Sutter combine to create a film with an obvious tone of depression and hopelessness. Just as you think it can't get any worse for Billy, it does. As a result, it feels as if the movie is constantly beating you over the head with these terrible things which keep on happening to this character who you do feel a genuine connection to. It's not a film for casual audience members and at times is difficult to get through.

I also felt that there were a few scenes in the film which had almost identical functions, making the final edit feel slightly repetitive at times. For example, there are more than a few more scenes dedicated to him visiting his daughter in social care which all shared the same function of showing Billy's daughter starting to hate her father. Had a few of the scenes been trimmed off, the depressing tone's impact on the pacing would've been lessened and I would've enjoyed it even more.

However, this film would have completely fallen to pieces if it weren't for a lead performance by Jake Gyllenhaal which is so committed that it deserves recognition from the Academy. He physically transforms his body and immerses himself in this role to the point where you stop seeing Jake Gyllenhaal, and you only see Billy Hope. He does excellent work portraying a character who loses everything in his life that's precious to him before he has to pick himself up and find a way out of the sh*tty hole life has dug for him.

The supporting cast really comes together as an ensemble in this film and includes some knock-out performances. The first of which is a brilliantly natural performance from Forest Whitaker, a character who becomes Hope's new trainer. The 2 actors had really good on-screen chemistry and as characters were really well fleshed out to the point where you feel attached emotionally to both of them. I really liked the purpose Forest Whitaker's character had in this film; to give Hope a new perspective on boxing and teach him various new dimensions to his game.

50 Cent was also surprisingly good, but the standout performance was by far Oona Laurence, the young girl who plays Hope's daughter. She is magnificent and completely natural in a child performance which surpassed all of my personal expectations. She plays this character so well and really encapsulates the emotional confusion a child like her would have if they'd seen their father deteriorate so badly before their eyes.

And this movie on a technical level when it came to the boxing sequences was undeniably impressive. The way Antoine Fuqua helmed these scenes was filled with action and adrenaline, which really increased the levels of tension and intensity of these scenes which made them very enjoyable. He directed these scenes using both wide, tracking shots which gave us the perspective of a television viewer and hand-held POV shots of the boxer, where the camera would duck and weave, really putting you as an audience member in the boxer's shoes. He created some wholesome boxing scenes which saw you switch perspectives from both inside and outside of the ring.

It made for some very immersive scenes, which were made even better by the use of focus, the way the scenes were lit, the stylistic yet impactful use of slow motion as well as realistic sound design which made you feel the raw pain when punches were flown. If I have one gripe about the technical side of how these scenes were created, it would be with the sound mixing. Mainly, the use of commentators which constantly narrated the action with exposition we already knew. I understand what Fuqua was trying to accomplish and this is only a small gripe concerning boxing scenes which I thought were helmed excellently.

Despite the fact it is depressing as all hell and at times this specific tone drags out the movie's pacing, Southpaw is still a film I had a good time watching and enjoying. The boxing scenes are filmed gorgeously putting you into the moment and all of the performances range from really good to absolutely astonishing. Know what you're getting into with Southpaw, know you're in for a tough ride before you go in. Then, you'll be able to enjoy the film for it's technical prowess and high-calibre acting performances:


Rating - B-


Also, don't watch any trailers, especially if you don't want Billy Hope's tragic life event spoiled. I didn't know what it was going into the movie blind, which made the experience all the more enjoyable.


Thanks for reading,
Matt