Southpaw is a boxing drama starring Jake Gyllenhaal as Billy “The
Great” Hope, the undefeated junior middleweight champion of the world. With his loving wife (Rachel McAdams) by his
side serving as his chief adviser, Billy enjoys a successful career, the love of his family, and a lavish lifestyle. However, tragedy strikes when a brawl breaks out
during a charity event and his wife is accidentally shot in the chaos. Broken down, Billy begins to abuse alcohol and
drugs, and his life spirals downwards as he loses his title, his money, his
house, and – due to succumbing to a destructive lifestyle – the custody of his
daughter (Oona Laurence) as well. Hitting
rock bottom, he finds an unlikely shot at redemption at the hands of gym owner Tick
Willis (Forest Whitaker). With Tick as
his trainer, Billy begins his grueling journey back to the top.
Southpaw has an unoriginal plotline. It’s a story that I've seen in different forms for countless times
already. And yet it’s not boring to
watch this familiar story unfold again.
This can probably be attributed to the all-around riveting performances of the cast –
especially from Jake Gyllenhaal, Forest Whitaker, and child actress Oona
Laurence – who kept me absorbed on the narrative. Gyllenhaal won’t get an Oscar
for it, but his performance in this movie is another testament that he’s one of
the most talented actors around today (seriously, he should had at least received an Oscar nomination for Nightcrawler).
In addition, the in-ring action
is intense, gritty, and beautifully choreographed; the drama brings the feels and induces
misty eyes; and the clichéd “riches to rags to riches” plot outline is actually executed in perfection. Moreover, I’m
sucker for well-done redemption stories, and Southpaw is a solid though unimaginative one. So, yeah, despite the cheesy elements and
narrative flaws, Southpaw has enough
going for it to be considered an enjoyable and touching movie.
No comments:
Post a Comment