Southpaw Review

I am of the belief that Jake Gyllenhaal is one of the best, if not the best actor working in Hollywood today. The man is a chameleon, capable of adapting to virtually any character type and excelling at it. There are very few actors in the history of film that I am personally aware of that are as versatile and talented as Mr. Gyllenhaal is on a regular basis. He hasn't always made great films, but his performances can never be labeled as bad. He brings his A-game every time up. That is something not many actors, popular or not, can say. Southpaw is owned by Gyllenhaal. There isn't much out of the ordinary about Antoine Fuqua's boxing drama; but in the midst of cliches and predictability, Gyllenhaal shines with another knockout performance.

Southpaw follows the story of Billy "The Great" Hope, a champion boxer who seems to have it all; a big house, beautiful wife, daughter that he loves, and all the money he would ever need. When tragedy strikes, Billy must cope with a perpetual onslaught of depression and continue to provide for himself and his family, even if life seems to be getting harder and harder by the day.

You've heard me say it ad nauseam, but Gyllenhaal truly is remarkable. He gave what was in my opinion the best performance of 2014 with his mesmerizing turn as Lou Bloom in Nightcrawler (a performance that was criminally under-recognized). Here, he's back with what is apparently 15 more pounds of pure muscle to convincingly play a professional boxer. Whereas he was creepily mysterious and understated in Nightcrawler, here he is a sledgehammer, flipping over tables and shouting in fits of rage like Jake LaMotta himself. That's what I was expecting from him after watching the trailer. What I wasn't expecting was his deeply affecting moments of silent pain, when you could tell he was hurting just by looking in his eyes. It's one of the best performances I've seen all year.

The film itself is satisfying, if quite lacking in some areas. The boxing genre has never been known for its innovations; you know what you're getting for the most part. And you can pretty much predict every beat that the film hits. This gives Southpaw a disadvantage right out of the gate, and there isn't much it could do to prevent this. Because it dwells in such a cliche-ridden genre, it has to be exceptionally well-made to stand out from the pack. Does it?

Well, yes and no. Director Antoine Fuqua and his impressive cast do a handful of things really well that ultimately make for an entertaining movie. For one, the boxing fights themselves were very effective. Hard-hitting and personal, there were moments when I felt like I was in the ring with the fighters. Not all boxing movies do that right, even though it seems like something that would be fundamental to their success. The final fight in particular got my blood pumping even though I pretty much knew how it would turn out. That's just a testament to the performances and the direction, which were both stellar in those climactic moments.

Additionally, I was quite impacted by the first act of the film. It was all really well done and got me emotionally invested in the story, the way an opening act should. Unlike so many movies nowadays, Southpaw actually develops its characters, even if it's in ways we've seen before. We are actually given reasons to care about them. I'm much more compelled to care about a character when a movie tries to earn my concern for them.

Where I got disconnected from Southpaw was in its second act. It seemed like the writers were trying way too hard to get the audience to feel for Billy. Like I said, the first act had already gained my interest in the characters. But then the film is intent on beating the characters down further and further into the ground as if that'll make us feel even more for them. It did, until it became dour and almost annoyingly focused on all the hardships Billy is going through.

This portion of the film lost me, if only temporarily, as I did thoroughly enjoy much of the third act. Before the energy of the climax kicks in, however, the narrative is jumbled, unsure of what to focus on and, like I said, a little too intent on showing us everything wrong with Billy's life. The whole subplot with Forest Whitaker's character felt rushed to me. Whitaker was solid on the acting front, but I couldn't get connected to his character the way the movie obviously wanted me to.

Nevertheless, I did enjoy Southpaw. It was a generic boxing movie that would have been considerably less interesting with anyone other than Gyllenhaal in the lead role, but because Gyllenhaal was present, the movie is ultimately a pretty powerful watch. It's not without its flaws, particularly involving its narrative during the middle portions of the movie, but it makes up for it with some great supporting cast members alongside an excellent Jake Gyllenhaal. Being a longtime Eminem fan, I also appreciated the training sequence, which was enjoyable despite being such an overused paradigm of the genre. At the end of the day, I'd recommend giving Southpaw a watch.

B