Coming from a formulaic genre, Southpaw is a bit cliché but it surely brings powerful performances and a promising storyline

Rating: Null/10 (24 July 2015)

Southpaw follows Billy "The Great" Hope, the reigning junior middleweight boxing champion, having an impressive career, a loving wife and daughter, and a lavish lifestyle. However, when tragedy strikes, Billy hits rock bottom, losing his family, house and manager. He soon finds an unlikely savior in Tick Willis, a former fighter who trains the city's toughest boxers. With his future on the line, Hope fights to reclaim the trust of those he loves the most.
Antoine Fuqua has most certainly brought his charm back into the ring by bringing a fascinating boxing drama to the big screen. Even though it may have a all to familiar plot when it comes to the formulaic boxing aspect, this film really smooths out well with such heavenly storytelling, we are given a accurate accusation of how something can affect someone in the hardest way possible.
Jake Gyllenhaal giving a ferocious performance as a down on his luck boxer was truly a grand experience. He really stuck to his character by bringing such a mad man to the ring and a man who would strive to make his family a whole once again, one wondrous performance I must say. One person other than Jake that really stood out was Forest Whitaker, he easily gave one of the best performances of this year so far!
The boxing scenes were so enthralling, they involved such wall-to-wall burst of punches with spraying blood and Fuqua's gutsy camera skills that keep you motived the whole time. Jake snorting like a mad bull, he surely brought out the horns to each opponent with a raging force, these scenes were just so highly entertaining that they made your heart pumping with such adrenaline.
I was not bored at all with Southpaw, I was invested the whole time. Even with its clichés, the film surely beats them down with mighty performances by its lead and supporting cast and cosmic storytelling. The drama was foretold fluently with a good take at how a family can fall apart and reconnect in such a turn of events, I loved that, it flowed along so ideally with a strong tone. In the end, SP is surely a spellbinding film towards a strong man that doesn't get knocked down by what life has to swing at him!