Directed by:
Antoine FuquaScreenplay:
Kurt SutterCinematography:
Mauro FioreComposer:
James HornerCast:
Jake Gyllenhaal, Forest Whitaker, Naomie Harris, 50 Cent, Oona Laurence, Skylan Brooks, Beau Knapp, Rachel McAdams, Victor Ortiz, Miguel Gomez, Dominic Colón (more)VOD (3)
Plots(1)
Reigning light-heavyweight boxing champion Billy 'The Great' Hope (Jake Gyllenhaal) has a loving wife (Rachel McAdams) and child and a promising career ahead of him. However, Billy finds himself in danger of losing all of that after tragedy strikes and he is declared unfit to look after his young daughter Leila (Oona Laurence). Having hit rock-bottom, Billy desperately tries to regain control of his life and win back custody of his little girl with the help of boxing trainer Titus 'Tick' Wills (Forest Whitaker). (Entertainment in Video)
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Reviews (12)
The narrative structure is a bit inconsistent, as after a strangely rushed and overstuffed first half, the story basically "starts from scratch". Anyway, with the arrival of Forest Whitaker on the scene, Southpaw spills into its better half. It's not necessarily his acting (he's playing his standard), rather that he has an extremely audience-rewarding "mentor" role here. Perhaps the only thing worth mentioning from the first half of the film is the opening fight, which is beautifully and evocatively shot. Everything else in the first hour felt too superficial and overwrought. The second half is a lot more believable and elevates the final impression to slightly above average.
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Southpaw = the Rocky of the new generation! I didn't have very high expectations, but the film swept me up in its plot from beginning to end and had me emotionally wrung out like nothing I've seen in a long time. Story-wise, the film doesn't bring anything groundbreaking to the genre, but the Oscar-worthy performances, the fierce emotional power, the decent pacing, perfect training montage to Eminem's music, and the thrilling final fight make for an honest-to-goodness heartbreaker at the very least. I cheered, I cried, I screamed like I haven't in a long time. Liked it more than Warrior. 85%.
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It’s a more expensive and bloated Million Dollar Baby with the opposite sex in the lead role, and the injury, instead of physical, is psychological. Fuqua fits into the mainstream much more than Eastwood, so where Clint meticulously crafted scenes with slow piano, dull sounds of punches, and masterful camera capturing the gray gym, Fuqua goes for it with loud hip-hop and jerky editing. Maybe it might sound like a criticism, but it isn't. Fuqua has worked hard recently, found a good dramaturge, and although he still has a boring and ordinary screenwriter, both Equalizer and Southpaw naturally generate emotions in the viewer. And so I can confidently say that Southpaw is the director's most mature and complete film in every aspect since Training Day, and I can easily add a second parallel: a similarly expressive main character who carries the whole film on his shoulders as in the Oscar-winning hit, but this time it’s the trainer vs. apprentice. Forest Whitaker is undoubtedly the best character of the film, but Jake Gyllenhaal could win prestigious awards with his explicit acting and physically demanding role. Surprisingly, Southpaw is authentic, sincere, and raw enough through all its clichés, predictability, and simple narrative storytelling of dreams, falls, rises, and finding the right values, to entertain not only a simple consumer but also someone who wants a bit more from a film, is willing to overlook the classic drawbacks of big productions and get drawn into it.
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I guess I haven't seen any boxing movies yet, but I was still able to guess which character would be in which type of shot TEN MINUTES IN ADVANCE! So, thanks a bunch, Kurt. It's more interesting to watch Fuqua being able to handle this assignment with alternating formal styles. The documentary "talking heads", zoomed in camera during big fights, changing the focus between multiple actors, the hand-held close-ups on faces and dark toning as the hero writhes at rock bottom, and then that quiet simple classic montage style of preparing for the climax. This actually subtly tells you what the film should have been about in the first place, because it seems to me that Hollywood is currently over-indulging in whiny whiny whiners, however much they're played by Oscar-chasing aces like Gyllenhaal. Which is actually kind of funny, because I think the little girl is outperforming everybody.
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I like boxing movies and I feel like it's hard to make one that's actually bad. This one isn't great overall, but it has great moments, and you can see on Fuqua's part that he knows how to shoot a great scene, not just action, but also sports scenes. Some shots from the ring are just fantastic, even though on the emotional level, it's somewhat superficial.
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