I’m not all that interested in sports although I do like a good sports movie. Sure there is only so many ways you can do a sports movie, but if a filmmaker can come up with something original that works then I am usually impressed. My all time favorite sports movie is easily Rocky (1976). Rocky was a gritty and bleak ’70s movie that was also very inspiring. The only problem with Rocky is that it is so good that every boxing movie that came after will always have to be compared to it. That brings me to Southpaw. I went into Southpaw hoping that it would be a new take on the boxing movie, but unfortunately it follows the Rocky formula a bit too close.
Jake Gyllenhall plays undefeated light heavyweight champion boxer Billy Hope who grew up as an orphan. He lives in New York City with his wife Maureen (Rachel McAdams) and their daughter Leila (Oona Laurence). A tragic accident happens partially due to Billy’s inability to control his anger and he ends up hitting rock bottom after the death of his wife and losing his daughter Leila to state custody. He seeks out a seasoned boxing trainer named Titus “Tick” Wills (Forest Whitaker) to train him due to the fact that Wills trained the only fighter that came close to beating Billy.
I can’t say that Southpaw is a bad movie in any way although like I said before it has a problem in that it follows the Rocky formula very closely. Fortunately it isn’t a complete copy and is able to be driven by original and interesting characters. Jake Gyllenhall has been getting a lot of hype for his role in this movie and people were already talking about him winning Actor of the Year for this. I was very impressed by Gyllenhall’s performance and thought he did a very good job although I can’t help comparing it to his character in Nightcrawler (2014) which I thought was just as much or if not a more dynamic and original character. Rachel McAdams as his wife is also very good although she isn’t in a whole lot of the movie. Oona Laurence as their daughter was also impressive and is a young actress that I think people should watch out for in other movies.
Although I thought this was a decent movie the biggest problem I had with it was the predictable plot. Sure it had decent and somewhat original characters which helped the movie, but I just can’t get past the fact of how formulaic it was. It was so much like Rocky that it even had a training montage right before the big final fight which featured Eminem’s song Phenomenon. That makes sense considering Eminem was originally suppose to play the lead role. The screenwriter of the movie was Kurt Sutter and he partially modeled the script after Eminem’s life and the struggles he has gone through. Kurt Sutter is best known for creating the hit show Sons of Anarchy which is a show I really enjoyed although it did have it’s faults. I think Sutter is very good at writing specific characters, but when it came to the plot of this movie I really think he took the easy route and just made his own version of Rocky.
Southpaw is a very decent movie that completely connects on an emotional level if you can connect with the characters. Gyllenhall has easily become one of the most impressive actors in Hollywood and although I doubt he will win an Oscar for this movie I think he put a lot into it and his performance made the movie that much better. The interaction between Gyllenhall as Billy and Oona Laurence as Leila are the highlights and it is that emotional father-daughter relationship that makes the movie work overall. I think a lot of people were looking forward to this movie, but unfortunately it just doesn’t quite fully succeed due to the weak plot and I also think it is getting overshadowed by director Ryan Coogler’s Creed movie which is sort of a spinoff of the Rocky franchise that comes out later this year.
Dave’s Rating- ★★★½ (3½ ) out of ★★★★★(5)
