Review of Southpaw (2015) by Ahmed H — 28 Oct 2015

Southpaw is a sports drama film that is an emotional rollercoaster and plays it really well with the characters trying to redeem themselves. These types of sports drama films are usually somewhat predictable as it does play the clichà (C) like a character losing everything after an incident and the only way of redeeming themselves is to train hard for the next big fight. This is how Southpaw is in that clichà (C), but the awesome performances from Jake Gyllenhaal, Forest Whitaker, and Rachel McAdams is worth looking at.

The story follows Billy Hope (Jake Gyllenhaal) a boxer who is undefeated and has a happy family, wife Maureen (Rachel McAdams) and daughter Leila (Oona Laurence). After a heated verbal showdown at a conference, Maureen was caught in a crossfire that killed her. Billy then, struggles the grief of loss as his world crumble apart, when his irresponsible behavior gets his daughter taken away by the child services. On the urge of losing everything, his career, home, daughter; and the help of a gym owner Willis (Forest Whitaker) helps to get Billy back on his feet to better himself. Billy is prepping himself, to get back into the ring to redeem himself and to get his daughter back.

The story is predictable; the screenwriter and Antoine Fuqua direction did make the film an emotional coaster as it gave the characters depth and the struggles of being a better person. The direction was so sharp; it did make viewing on some scenes difficult as the characters go through a difficult time, trying to win his daughter heart back. This is one of Antoine Fuqua better films, while most of his work was pretty decent as well. The boxing match in the climax was also gripping, as Billy takes a beating and does leave the final few rounds thrilling in a way. Music composer James Horner work is also recognized as well, his score worked and made the film even better. Even though, this is one of his last films before his passing.