Bloody And Violent Fight Scenes

Rating: 7/10 (3 August 2015)

The Movies at least American movie history is full to overflowing with boxing films, i'll list some of my favourites:- Raging Bull(1980),Million Dollar Baby(2004),The Fighter(2010),Cinderella Man(2005),Body And Soul(1947),Champion(1949),Kid Galahad(1962 Elvis Presley musical)and The Champion(1915 Brilliant comedy by Charlie Chaplin) Another list of boxing films that i merely enjoyed very much would include Rocky(1976) Rocky 2&3(1979/1982) And The Champ(1979) but i could include a dozen more very very easily. A Third list of accomplished if third raters if only by sheer weight of numbers would include Southpaw. The thing with this movie is that we have seen everything, the shooting apart so many times before. The fall from grace, the recovery, the inspiring trainer, the do it for the kid angle is straight out of The Champ from way back from 1931, so there is almost nothing new. The main problem with the movie is the running time the film in the second half is rushed like many films these days it really needed more time another 30 minutes maybe even an hour to make the recovery more meaningful. All that said, Jake Gyllenhaal is once again utterly brilliant as Billy Hope the boxer from the gutter in film after film he is sheer brilliance personified see Nightcrawler(2014)for an recent example. Southpaw's director Antoine Fuqua and his camera and sound crew do a stunning job of the actual fight scenes the noble art of self defence is a bone crushing brutal and bloody business and business it is, here in this film. The violence is all up close and very personal and right in your face. Crunch and thump. But, the trouble is all with the back story. So i can only place it about number 17 over all among the 50 best boxing films i have seen, very good but not truly great. Movie history and time will in the end decide!