Southpaw: Movie Review

Director Antoine Fuqua wisely passed on the sequel to 2013’s “Olympus Has Fallen” to helm the Jake Gyllenhaal led boxing drama “Southpaw”. The film’s star is making some good choices as well. Between 2013’s “Enemy” and 2014’s “Nightcrawler”, Gyllenhaal has been throwing himself into some very complex characters. He continues on that path, playing a boxer whose life is coming apart at the seams.

Billy Hope (Gyllenhaal) is on top of the world. He is a boxing champion. Billy has a loving and supportive wife in Maureen (Rachel McAdams) and they have their beautiful daughter Leila (Oona Laurence). The happy family lives in a beautiful mansion. Yes, life is grand for the Hope family.

While at a charity event, up-and-coming fighter Miguel Escobar (Miguel Gomez) starts an altercation with Billy that leads to Maureen’s death. This is a devastating blow for Billy who had been with the love of his life since he was twelve years old. Although Billy loves his daughter, he is not emotionally fit to take care of her. To top things off, he is now completely broke due to more money going out than coming in.

Billy has lost his wife, his home, his money and Leila has been taken away from him and put in child protective services until he can get his life back on track. Desperate for work, Billy takes a job as a janitor at a local gym, owned by Titus Wills (Forest Whitaker). During the day Billy trains at the gym and at night he cleans it. In the meantime, Leila refuses to see her father when he comes to visit. She blames him for the terrible turn their lives have taken. Billy’s long-time manager Jordan Mains (Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson) has dropped him as a client and has now made Escobar his boxing golden boy.

The direction the story heads in is predictable. We know that everything will eventually lead to a major boxing match between Hope and Escobar and we know that Billy will get his life back on track and get his daughter back. “Southpaw” does tend to drag in stretches but it’s the performance by Gyllenhaal that really stands out here. The actor has given us so many fantastic performances over recent years and this could very well be his second best (It’s hard to top “Nightcrawler”) Those who enjoy great cinematic boxing matches will have no shortage here. With so many new movies being released this week, “Southpaw” is going to really have to slug it out to find an audience.

By: Marc Ferman