Film Review: Southpaw

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‘There are certain things you know are going to happen in a movie like this.’ – Chris Stuckmann

Southpaw stars Jake Gyllenhaal, Forest Whittaker, Rachel McAdams and is a film that focuses on the redemption of a world boxing champion (Billy Hope, played by Gyllenhaal) after a series of tragic events forces his life on a downward spiral, in turn causing Billy to strive to become a responsible father.

Southpaw has to my surprise gained mixed critical response, holding out at 59% on Rotten Tomatoes (6/10). I believe this is down to it embracing genre cliches, like the quote above explains, there are certain things we know are going to happen. Something will go wrong, the main character will have to step up his game in a training montage and there will be an epic fight to round things off. Despite this, the movie doesn’t fall down at any hurdle, it carefully squeezes the absolute best out of these cliches and decides to not put forward a story about boxing, but a tale of responsibility in an emotional bond between a father and his daughter.

While Southpaw doesn’t do much wrong, it doesn’t overwhelm in any technical departments apart from acting. Gyllenhaal of course is at his very best yet again, disappearing into the character of Billy Hope with intelligent (or rather unintelligent) delivery of dialogue, great physical movement and extensive emotional depth. Whitaker also prevails with one of his best performances as well as McAdams, Oona Lawrence (Leila Hope) and 50 Cent/Curtis Jackson also delivering solid performances.

Antoine Fuqua’s direction is well realised, certain moments are perfectly manifested to deliver uplifting drama and personal gut wrenching emotion. Each of these scenes boast incredible cinematography, ‘Cinema is about what’s in the frame and what’s not in the frame.’ The cinematography at times truly promotes this ideology. Sons of Anarchy’s Kurt Sutter creates a meaningful script which is also on point. The score is mostly unnoticed in the film due to it’s constant battle with the brilliant soundtrack by Eminem. After the movie I wondered why there was even a score at all, which was upsetting as I knew this was the last film James Horner (Titanic) scored before his untimely death.

Overall Southpaw is definitely worth the watch in cinemas, especially if you’re not really sold on any blockbuster movies like Mission Impossible or the tragically criticised Fantastic Four reboot. It has a big heart and is brutally realistic, with great performances and wonderfully dramatic father/daughter moments that’ll have you in tears multiple times throughout.

Rating: 8.5/10

Words by Levi Eddie Aluede

 

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