Gyllenhaal is impressive as ever!

Rating: 9/10 (13 August 2015)

Antoine Fuqua takes the best of other movies and makes them his own. Southpaw follows in the footsteps of classic boxing movies like Rocky, The Fighter and Warrior with its meaty, sensational fights, and The Shawshank Redemption and The Pursuit of Happiness, for making redemption its focal point. Jake Gyllenhaal seizes to amaze, outshining his work in Nightcrawler and Enemy. He's put himself through physical trauma to entertain at the highest level. Southpaw's an emotional journey, at its lowest when prestigious boxer Billy Hope (Gyllenhaal) loses his wife and the custody of his daughter. The shooting of Maureen Hope (Rachel McAdams) is one of the most terrifyingly real death in cinema history. Feelings run riot and a good deal of squirming in our seats transpires. Gyllenhaal's bulky frame, impressionable acting and connection with youngster Oona Laurence is mesmerising. The mid-section of Southpaw sees Hope fighting battles outside the ring, for his daughter by his side and to rid himself of the guilt he carries. Fuqua has upped the sentimentality, making Southpaw his most engaging film since Training Day. The ending dips in form into the pit when Billy makes his grand comeback, but this doesn't matter too much, as Hope, and Gyllenhaal for that matter, are mainly winners outside the ring.