Superficial Spectacle.

Rating: 3/10 (24 July 2015)

3/10 just for Gyllenhaal - burdened with a paper thin character and script overwrought with so many clichés it borders on plagiarism - who managed to breathe the smallest amount of life into this "feature" film.
I can understand the hype, with a new track from Eminem and Hollywood darling's McAdams, Gyllenhaal, & Whitaker, bloody spit takes, and convincing eye make up - what could go wrong? The catch is it's completely superficial. Too often we mistake glitzy effects and name branding for quality. Southpaw exemplifies this to a fault. We are guided to believe the walking plot points are characters, that the dialogue is remotely passable (the commentators laughably bad), most of all that we see a portrayal of poverty, addiction, or isolation behind the gloves. But we never get there.
In fact we never see the hard streets of new york - save for transition shots and an exterior of Will's Gym. We never see Hope's spiraling inebriation following his wife's passing - just a news headline and a silly crash sequence that comes out of the blue. We get cuts and montages the imply his falling apart, but alas it is a spectacle we never see. Save for a one off apartment scene and a character so thinly written he wasn't given a real name (Hoppy), the only poverty we experience is through hackneyed dialogue about growing up in the foster care system. In truth 80% of the movie is in the ring, locker room, or gym.
This movie relies so heavily on Gyllenhaal's performance that it's insulting. Insulting that today a name and some make up is enough to paint an otherwise vapid and lackluster production as a masterpiece. And I wanted to love this movie so badly as a massive fan of boxing movies.