Despite feeling like a pastiche of the Rocky films Southpaw has enough heart and intensity for this not to matter too much

Rating: 7/10 (23 April 2016)

Billy Hope (Jake Gyllenhaal) is very much at the top of his game with 43 wins and 0 losses. However, all these fights are taking their toll on Hope and his wife Maureen (Rachel McAdams) is trying talk him into throwing the towel in so that he can spend more time with his family and watch his daughter grow up and graduate. After winning his latest match, Hope is taunted by an up and coming boxer named Miguel Escobar (Miguel Gomez). Hope's lack of self-control gets the better of him when Escobar taunts him once too often which culminates in the two men fighting. Sadly amidst all of the chaos that their fight causes Hope's wife ends up getting shot and tragically dies. Her death is the start of a downward spiral for Hope which, amongst other things, results in him losing his daughter to child protection services. In a bid to get himself back in the right place Hope enlists the help of renowned boxing trainer Tick Wills (Forest Whitaker) who may be his only chance at getting his life back on track.
In my personal opinion Southpaw is a film that has a much stronger second half than first half. Although it feels like a pastiche of the Rocky films more or less for its entire running time the comparisons are more noticeable in the early stages; wife trying to talk hubby into quitting boxing, the cocky boxer trash-talking the champion and trying to convince him to get in the ring with him, a promoter who seems loyal but predictably is only interested in staying with a boxer that can make him money etc. Despite the familiarity Southpaw still remains an interesting picture and Gyllenhaal brings such passion and intensity to his role here that it often doesn't matter that we're watching a re-tread of pastures old for the most part.
The second half of the film (where Forest Whitaker's character Tick Wills is introduced) is definitely the better part of the film. Although they seem very different when they first meet I got the impression that they both had more in common than they'd care to admit; both men were at the top of their game when incidents happened during their boxing careers which effectively put them out of the game; Wills injuring his eye during a fight and Hope's downward spiral after his wife dying. The difference here is that Wills injury forced him to retire whereas Hope's career was merely in decline as opposed to being finished. Although their careers took very different turns I felt the common bond that the men shared was that they'd both been at the top and knew what it was like to have that taken away from them. Another key moment in the film was with Hoppy's death and Wills reaction to his death; this was a man who seemed to be calm and composed most of the time, but Hoppy's death threatened to push him over the edge (as it almost did with Hope when his wife died). Again I got the feeling that Wills felt guilty for Hoppy's death and felt that he could have done something to prevent it (brushing off Hope's concerns for the kid was a pivotal factor here). I think these two things together are what cemented the bond between the two men and this is something that is improved upon as things go on.
If we look at Forest Whitaker's character then again the comparisons to characters from Rocky are inevitable; essentially he's another Mighty Mickey or a Duke type character - although I'd probably say that he's closer to Mighty Mickey in terms of his personality and ethics. Although it may seem like a cliché, I still liked the way that Wills convinced Hope that boxing is more about the mind than it is about merely being able to throw punches. Hope was actually only successful as a boxer because he could take a punch as he demonstrates an inability to defend himself in the early stages. Not only does Wills massively improve Hope's defence but he also improves his temperament which is something that was getting the better of him far too often. Yes it's all stuff we've seen before but it's again it's all done with enough heart, intensity and emotion for it not to seem too important.
If we look at the performances then I have to say that this is probably one of Gyllenhaal's best performances; he brings one of the most intense performances in a boxing film since Robert De Niro's performance in Raging Bull. His energy and commitment (not to mention his impressive physical transformation) are all extremely impressive and he really is quite the screen presence here. Whitaker gives another superb performance, but then again doesn't he always??
So yes Southpaw doesn't have many original elements and yes the script doesn't really offer any surprises. However, these negatives are compensated for by an excellent performance by Jake Gyllenhaal and an equally impressive turn from Forest Whitaker. It has heart, passion and intensity and also covers its 2 hour running time with little in the way of padding or filler. I liked it and I reckon that those who enjoy boxing films will enjoy it too.