Great performances in a decent plot

Rating: 8/10 (5 October 2016)

I am not a fan of sports movies, but this film has a few things going really well for it.
The biggest is the actor performances, with Jake Gyllenhaal playing one of the roles of his life and Forest Whitaker coming a close second. But I am not discounting the secondary roles, either: even the child actor was really good, even the "villain"!
Then there is the story. Instead of starting from the bottom and overcoming adversities to become great, our hero starts off as the champ, then loses everything that ever meant anything to him and he has to find his way back from despair.
And final and third point is that the story is adapted from the life of Eminem translated into boxing. So it's basically a sequel to 8 Miles :)
Bottom line: I watched the film with interest even if it's not the type of things I usually go for, mesmerized by Gyllenhaal's performance.