A good dramatic boxing film

Rating: 7/10 (10 May 2016)

I do enjoy a good sport film, especially a boxing film so I was excited to see this film. The premise of the film sees a top boxer's life get turned upside down as he attempts to get his life and career back on track. Jake Gyllenhaal is one of the best actors going today and he continues that in this film with a great performance. You truly care about his character and the situation he has been put in, he also has transformed himself physically which adds to his character. Rachel mcadams plays his wife in the film and she does a good job adding humanity to his character unfortunately she just isn't in the film that much. Forest Whittaker plays his coach and he is great in this film adding a personal friendship into Gyllenhaals life. 50 cent is the boxing promoter in this film and he does a good job in the role. The girl who plays Gyllenhaals daughter in the film does a really good job being a believable kid actress that delivers a powerful emotional performance. The story has some really good dramatic qualities and a great ending. But at times it does feel like this film tries to beat you over the head with the drama which could have been done with being shortened a little bit. The script has some great dramatic dialogue that really made the drama hit home. However, for a sports film there is absolutely no humour in it which I understand because of the dark tone but I do feel like it could have done with a bit of humour. The style of the film is a mixed bag, all the boxing scenes are awesome with the hits feeling hard and heavy. However, the overall tone of the film is incredibly dark and it is a bit of a hard watch. Overall this is a good film but it isn't as good as creed or rocky but it is a decent film.