Southpaw

I've been wanting to see this movie for a number of reasons. First, ever since I was little I've been a huge fan of boxing as well as sports dramas. Second, I found out that this was written/produced by Kurt Sutter who was the writer/creator of one of my favorite shows- Sons of Anarchy. Now that I've finally seen it, what do I think? Well despite a disappointing beginning, Southpaw blew me away it was so good.

Jake Gyllenhaal plays Billy Hope, a boxer at the top of his career. Suddenly, and I'm not spoiling anything here because they show it in the trailer, his wife Maureen (Rachel McAdams) is killed and, due to his behavior in the aftermath, he loses custody of his daughter Leila (Oona Laurence). Hitting rock bottom, he begins working for/training with former boxer Tick Willis (Forrest Whitaker) in order to build himself back up and get his daughter back.

The movie is directed by Antoine Fuqua, who directed last years The Equalizer which I actually liked. He does a pretty good job here, but I have some mixed feelings. The first 30 minutes or so moved really slowly and it was edited poorly. It's hard to describe unless you actually see it. I was about to write this movie off but then, and this is probably horrible of me to say, once Billy's wife dies things really get going. I liked his pretty spot on portrayal of boxing culture as well as all the family drama.

Maybe I'm biased, but I think a lot of credit goes to Kurt Sutter's writing. He's created a story that at times is emotionally powerful. I'll admit it's your typical cliched sports/drama movie that's very predictable. But that doesn't mean it isn't enjoyable.

This is very much a movie that's all about the performances. Jake Gyllenhaal... wow!! All the positive things you've heard about him in this are absolutely true. It's scary the way he was able to transform and fully immerse himself in the character. The only thing was I couldn't understand a damn word he was saying half the time. I had an easier time understanding Bane in The Dark Knight Rises. Anyway, you really believe him as a boxer.   Especially in the final fight scene which is bad ass and felt so real that it had me on the edge of my seat.

What I loved just as much if not more than that final fight scene was the scenes between Jake and his onscreen daughter. They were very convincing and it just broke my heart seeing them. I teared up quite a bit. Oona Laurence is a great young actress and I hope to see her in more movies.

Southpaw wasn't nearly on the same level as say Warrior was for me, but I'm still glad I saw it. If you can get past the first 30 minutes, I think you will too. I promise it's worth the effort.

My Rating: 8/10