Southpaw

The essential driving force of the sports drama Southpaw is clearly Jake Gyllenhaal, without whose excellent performance it would be just a rather mediocre movie from a boxing environment with a very predictable plot. Who else caught my eye was the charismatic Forest Whitaker, who was a very decent support for Jake. (65%) (10/29/2022)

In his screenwriting debut, Kurt Sutter knocks out originality in the first round. (Everything important is actually revealed in the opening credits, based on which it isn’t hard to figure out that Whitaker will play a more important role than Rachel McAdams, so you end up just waiting for him to appear on the scene and wondering whether he will actually play the role that logically suits him.) The initial plot twist, which is given away in the trailer, is followed by a textbook story of redemption and second chances. The protagonist must first sink to the bottom in order to get back on his feet, find his inner balance and take on the antagonist. Partial successes in the sports storyline are dampened by failures in the relationship storyline (the estranged daughter) so that the protagonist still has something to contend with and the viewer is still “hooked”. Southpaw is different from the first Rocky only in that the rise of the boxer, who doesn’t fight for the heart of his beloved, but for his daughter’s trust, begins after he goes from riches to rags. It is not clear whether Sutter, who comes from a poor family, intended to say that real boxers don’t fight for fame, but for the love of the sport. Billy obviously does not plan to find contentment in training boys from the poor side of town for the rest of his life. The film is equally uncritical with respect to the self-destructive nature of fighting sports (not only in comparison with Raging Bull and the recent Foxcatcher). Thanks to the journalistically intrusive camerawork and Jake Gyllenhaal’s naturalistic acting, the matches are unpleasantly violent, but they mainly result in catharsis rather than pain. Or once a fighter, always a fighter. I fully understand and recognise the existence of such self-actualising and self-affirming melodramas, especially when they aren’t offensively stupid and there isn’t much to fault them for with respect to craftsmanship and narrative, but I also wonder what good another variation on the same theme and the same formula is in the long-term perspective other than to garner Oscar nominations for a few actors. Particularly in the case of the aloof Whitaker, who is starting to play similar personifications of old age and wisdom as Clint Eastwood (whose Million Dollar Baby offers a much less gratuitous plot twist), it wouldn’t bother me if it went no further than a nomination. Gyllenhaal sometimes tries too hard for an award. Just like the Southpaw itself. 60% (07/22/2015)

Southpaw is a movie that certainly doesn't brim with originality. You've seen the story many times in various forms, which is a typical pitfall of most sports movies. But when you get over classic cliches like "The more you get hit, the harder you fight.", etc., you are in for a pretty solid experience. Especially the fights are filmed very well, Gyllenhaal is his usual (above)standard self, and the movie goes by really fast. All in all, I was satisfied in the end. (01/05/2016)

I guess I haven't seen any boxing movies yet, but I was still able to guess which character would be in which type of shot TEN MINUTES IN ADVANCE! So, thanks a bunch, Kurt. It's more interesting to watch Fuqua being able to handle this assignment with alternating formal styles. The documentary "talking heads", zoomed in camera during big fights, changing the focus between multiple actors, the hand-held close-ups on faces and dark toning as the hero writhes at rock bottom, and then that quiet simple classic montage style of preparing for the climax. This actually subtly tells you what the film should have been about in the first place, because it seems to me that Hollywood is currently over-indulging in whiny whiny whiners, however much they're played by Oscar-chasing aces like Gyllenhaal. Which is actually kind of funny, because I think the little girl is outperforming everybody. (11/12/2015)

I simply enjoy boxing movies and I feel that it's difficult to make one that is truly bad. This one is not great, but it has great locations and you can see that Fuqua knows how to shoot a great scene, not only action-packed but also sporty. Some shots from the ring are just fantastic, even though in the emotional aspect, it's somewhat one-dimensional. (09/10/2015)