A flawless film, heightened by the performance of Jake Gyllenhaal.

Rating: 10/10 (1 August 2015)

Southpaw tells the story of professional boxer, Billy Hope(Jake Gyllenhaal). Billy is an excellent boxer. He never gives up in the ring, no matter how many times he gets punched by his various opponents. Billy has a loving wife named Maureen Hope(Rachel McAdams), who gives him constant support during his boxing matches & life in general. Billy & Maureen have an adorable daughter named Leila Hope(Oona Lawrence). After Maureen loses her life in a tragic accident, Billy is devastated. Due to his increasingly dangerous behavior, child protection services decide to keep his daughter Leila in their custody until, Billy proves that he is a worthy parent in a court of law. Now, it is up to Billy with the help of new trainer, Tick Wills(Forest Whitaker) to get his personal & professional life back in order.
Southpaw is a mind blowing film! The story of the movie may be simple but, it is so extraordinarily executed that it doesn't matter. This film is a heartwarming tale of family & never giving up no matter what the odds are, with boxing providing the backdrop. The boxing matches are thrilling to watch. The first person camera angles make you feel like you are part of the action. Though this movie is brilliant, it is not for the faint of heart. There are many heartbreaking scenes & the boxing scenes are quite gory. The tear-jerking scenes are one of the highlights of the film. Incredible performances by the main cast is what pushes this movie to greatness. Jake Gyllenhaal gives us another spectacular performance as Billy Hope. Gyllenhaal's ability to adapt to any role be it the emotionally closed detective in Prisoners(2013), the rake thin, morally ambiguous reporter in Nightcrawler(2014) & now as the super beefy, physically & emotionally wrecked boxer in this movie, proves that Jake Gyllenhaal is one of the finest actors of his generation. You can see that Gyllenhaal has worked really hard to bulk up & train to portray a professional boxer. Rachel McAdams is superb as Maureen Hope. I just wanted McAdams to have more screen time. Forest Whitaker is great as Tick Wills. Oona Lawrence is outstanding as Leila Hope. Lawrence has a bright future ahead of her if she can act so brilliantly at such a young age. The bond shared between Gyllenhaal's Billy & Lawrence's Leila is another highlight of the movie. Curtis '50 Cent' Jackson is effective as Jordan Mains. Skylan Brooks is impressive as Hoppy. Naomie Harris is wonderful as Angela Rivera. Miguel Gomez is good as Miguel 'Magic' Escobar. Go watch Southpaw, immediately!