– Film Review by Cate Marquis –
Jake Gyllenhaal transforms himself to portray nearly inarticulate boxer Billy “The Great” Hope in director Antoine Fuqua’s “Southpaw.” Despite strong acting performances, a stylish look and gritty, realistic fight sequences, “Southpaw” is familiar melodrama, filled with boxing and sport film cliches.
It is a shame in a way that the film’s story is so ordinary, given Gyllenhaal’s strong performance and the lack of award recognition for his outstanding performance in last year’s “Nightcrawler.” Unfortunately, “Training Day” director Fuqua goes for style over substance in this mash-up of boxing film standard tropes.
Gyllenhaal plays Billy “The Great” Hope, a boxer who has risen to the top to become light heavyweight champion. Despite his top ranking, Hope’s style as a boxer is to just endure more punches than the other guy and to harness his anger in the ring. Out of the ring, the nearly-silent boxer lives in luxury and gives little thought to much of anything, letting his cadre of managers, friends from his days in foster care, handle details of his career. Even his personal life is run by his beloved wife Maureen (Rachel McAdams), whom he met as teen when they both were in an orphanage. Without families, they only had each other. With success and their daughter Leila (Oona Lawrence), they have formed their own little family but now Maureen worries about the toll boxing is taking on Billy and begs him to retire from the ring, despite pressure from his manager Jordan Mains (Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson) to give rival boxer Miguel Escobar (Miguel Gomez) a shot at the title.
An unexpected event changes Billy’s life and he ends up losing everything. To regain his daughter’s trust and to put his life back together, Billy must go back in the ring, with the help of trainer and former boxer Tick Willis (Forest Whitaker).
The cast are all good in this sports drama, especially young Oona Lawrence as Billy’s daughter. Lawrence has a lot of honest kid charm and the scenes between father and daughter are excellent, with the realism of the complicated feelings their situation demands.
The fight scenes are among the film’s strong points, with a realism created by presenting them as real fights are covered by the media. This approach put pressure on Gyllenhaal to do more of the fight scenes himself, and the actor quite convincing in the ring.
Boxing has a drama that movies have been drawing on since the silent film era but “Southpaw” does little more than recycle familiar elements. As good as the acting is, as stylish as the fight scenes are, as touching as the scenes between father and daughter are, the film is pretty predictable. Fiqua relieves too much on style without offers enough substance to lift his film out of melodrama.
© Cate Marquis
