Despite a familiar plot and character, Southpaw delivers the goods by way of Jake Gyllenhaal's ferocious performance.

Rating: 8/10 (15 July 2015)

Southpaw marks Antoine Fuqua's take on the boxing film genre and it is a gritty, realistic take but the grittiness and realistic approach to this kind of film has been seen countless times. Despite this fact, Fuqua manages to deliver a film that hits all the right (if not familiar) beats all while giving Jake Gyllenhaal a chance to truly act his ass off. Billy Hope is a character that throws you right back to De Niro in Raging Bull and Stallone in Rocky. The performance is just as astonishing as his physical transformation into role. He takes Hope and makes this beast of a fighter human and makes the audience feel for him with every blow he takes, both in the ring and out of it. Rachel McAdams plays Maureen Hope, who unfortunately dies by way of accidental gunfire during an out of the ring confrontation between Billy and his rival. McAdams, while he part is small, it is so crucial. Despite her screen time being limited, McAdams' presence lingers throughout the entire film, making it impossible not to root for Billy even when he delves into street violence and drug abuse. A real stand out performance outside of Gyllenhaal is Oona Laurence who plays Leila Hope, Billy's young daughter. Laurence stands toe to toe with Gyllenhaal and delivers some of the best scenes in the film with her on-screen dad. She makes you cry, she makes you laugh, it is a great performance from a young actress and solidifies herself as a heavy hitter. While the performances in this film do push it pass the clichè scenes, there are still some underlying problems with Southpaw. The biggest is one that it can't shake and that is the plot itself. We've seen this story done many, MANY times before. Whether it is boxing or MMA, this is the same story as Rocky, Raging Bull, Warrior. A fighter fights for his family and pride. Kurt Sutter is a great writer and is grounded in reality but this is just too familiar of a plot to push this towards greatness. Fuqua, a former boxer, does a great job making this film feel like a documentary especially during the fights. They're not up close and personal like Raging Bull, they are shown like we're watching a HBO special on Ward and Gatti. It is delivered in real time but when blood is spilled and the wounds are heavy, Fuqua doesn't shy away and it makes for some truly grisly imagery. Overall, Southpaw is a powerful film thanks to its performances. However, if you're looking for a film that is a breath of fresh air, this is definitely not it.