You might feel that "Southpaw" is full of clichés and been there done that mind frame and to be quite honest you would be right.

Rating: 7/10 (5 August 2015)

I will state it upfront that I will be extra hard in my review of "Southpaw" the new boxing movie directed by Antoine Fuqua (Training Day, The Equalizer, Olympus Has Fallen), let me explain why. I am a student of the "Sweet Science" as boxing is called in pugilist circles, for over 19 years now. I am a hardcore fan of boxing and follow what is happening in this sport everyday visiting boxing websites. I watch every major boxing fight of the last 20 years and thousands of mediocre ones as well. You name a fighter in the past two decades and I probably saw him fighting, know his record and I will be able to name five top opponents he faced in his career. I witnessed career of Mike Tyson, Evander Holyfield, Lennox Lewis, Oscar De La Hoya, and other top pound for pound fighters with almost religious devotion. I am also a student of the history of boxing going all the way back to boxers like Jack Jonson, Joe Lewis and Rocky Marciano. Apart of being a fan I also train boxing. In my home I had a punch bag and speed bag and when I go to the gym I always start with boxing workout consisting of shadow boxing, and sessions on Heavy and Soft bags. I am aware of boxing techniques, leg movement and defensive techniques. Bottom line boxing is a sport I have been obsessed with for the last two decades. This is why I am always extra excited and hard when I hear about a new boxing movie which will be released to the mainstream. Whenever you have such devotion to one sport it is almost sacrilegious feeling when boxing is not depicted in correct or believable way. This brings us to the new installment in boxing movies tradition which saw many wonderful attempts to show the reality of the sport as well many failures. "Southpaw" falls somewhere between this category. Billy "The Great" Hope (Jake Gyllenhaal), the reigning junior middleweight boxing champion, has an impressive career, a loving wife and daughter, and a lavish lifestyle. However, when tragedy strikes, Billy hits rock bottom, losing his family, his house and his manager. He soon finds an unlikely savior in Tick Willis (Forest Whitaker), a former fighter who trains the city's toughest amateur boxers. With his future on the line, Hope fights to reclaim the trust of those he loves the most. I must say when you read this premiss you might feel that it is full of clichés and been there done that mind frame and to be quite honest you would be right. This type of redemption stories has been done before and to better effect. There is nothing overly unique about it. With lesser director this film would be just another corny Rocky wanna be but by adding Jake Gyllenhaal and his acting craft, this potentially mediocre film raised beyond the level it was heading to. Originally "Southpaw" was supposed to be a follow up to Eminem's 8 Mile with Slim Shady resuming the titled role. Thankfully he decided to focus on the music department of the movie and left acting to the professional and let me tell you Jake did fine job portraying a boxer. Specially the out of the ring aspect. His physique is ripped and many months he spent in Wild Card Gym of Hall of Fame trainer Freddie Roach, one of the best in the world, paid off. Watching fighters like Manny Pacquiao and Miguel Cotto made a difference in the way he prepared for this role. Usually when it comes to boxing movies the biggest problem actors have is with footwork. It is where boxers generate power from. Without good footwork you can not box effectively and it takes a long time before moving around the ring becomes second nature. Jakes footwork was decent which allowed him to build up on the rest of the boxing technique. The actual fights might not be as well choreographed or shot as in lets say "Raging Bull" masterpiece of Martin Scorsese arguably the best boxing movie ever made. To elaborate on outside boxing issues the story feels very predictable you can almost guess how the movie will end half way through. The other notable performances are led by Forest Whitaker as the washed up trainer though his performance might be largely overlooked because it feels inconsistent. I could dissect the rest of the cast but let me summarize this in one sentence. This film without Jake and good director would be mediocre. Even the title sounds like a gimmick. The title of the film is a reference to the eponymous stance traditionally adopted by a left handed boxer. As previous Rocky movies Jakes character learns as an orthodox fighter to switch to lefty to surprise his big nemesis. This is only one of the clichés I am talking about. If you are not a boxing fan I do think you might be swept by the drama of the story and you will root for the underdog but if you have understanding of the fight game you will be fidgeting uncomfortably and will have half backed smirk on your face and it won't be because you think what you are seeing on the screen is realistic depiction of Sweet Science. "Southpaw" isn't a bad film by any means but it is not a new Rocky, where with Stallone you could feel that he was a student of the game, this film feels like a dramatization of events which we've seen over and over in the past.