Review of Southpaw (2015) by Matthew S — 02 Jan 2016
"Southpaw" is worth watching only for Jake Gyllenhaal's exceptional performance and for the brutally choreographed fight sequences. Which is arguably sufficient given that this is a *boxing* movie.
With a different director, a better screenplay, more believable character development and less horrible music, this coulda been a contender. Gyllenhaal proves what a wonderful character / method actor he is becoming (just compare this role with that of the emaciated, sociopathic news vulture he plays to brilliant effect in "Nightcrawler"), but he is thrown serious shade by inconsistent, cliché derived writing and often weak direction and editing.
It generally holds together as serviceable but in another director's hands, this might have matched the effectiveness of "Warrior" or even "The Fighter".
This review of Southpaw (2015) was written by Matthew S on 02 Jan 2016.
Southpaw has generally received positive reviews.
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