Gut-Punching

Rating: 8/10 (26 July 2015)

This may be a controversial statement, but I don't know that anyone besides perhaps Daniel Day-Lewis commits to his roles more than Jake Gyllenhaal does. Year after year, and Oscar caliber performance after Oscar caliber performance, this man surprises me. Not only is Gyllenhaal incredibly dedicated, but he disappears into his roles, and as a famous A-list actor, that's pretty difficult to do. Southpaw is a good movie, but Gyllenhaal is phenomenal. It almost seemed like he was acting in a classic, but the film itself was just another solid sports picture. Don't get me wrong, this film has plenty of great performances, but sometimes everything doesn't quite come together. But considering just how good Gyllenhaal is, that's alright.
Southpaw tells the story of Billy Hope, an undefeated boxing champion who suffers a life shattering tragedy and is forced to rekindle his relationship with his daughter and reform his career following this event. If you haven't watched any of the trailers, don't. There's a huge spoiler/plot point that they show and it's entirely unnecessary. But even though I had seen both the trailers, I found the film to be just as captivating. Rachel McAdams doesn't have a huge role, but she's very effective as Hope's wife and backbone to everything he does. She's been good in True Detective this year, but I don't think she has ever been better than she was in her few scenes in Southpaw. It doesn't hurt that Gyllenhaal plays wells off of her and so does the daughter, played by Oona Laurence, for that matter. The entire family dynamic was really well handled and probably my favorite part about the movie. In fact, this isn't as much of a boxing film as it is a father-daughter story. Sure, it has a certain amount of a redemption involved in Hope's strive to get back in the ring, but I found his willingness to save his relationship with his daughter to be the much more appealing side of the film.
It's also worth noting how good Forest Whitaker is here as well. I think this film has about 20 tear jerking scenes but probably the best acted scenes involved him and Gyllenhaal. Both of them can do so much with just their facial expressions and particularly their eyes. There are few people in the business who can say entire paragraphs just by moving their eyes or face in a particular way. With all this being said, I think there are a few flaws with the film. There are several plot points that are brought up but then never addressed or resolved before the movie ends. I cant say much else without spoiling the film but I just thought the directing could have been more polished. There's also the lack of build up for the final fight. We spent a good chunk of the film dealing with family issues and Billy's inner demons, but then all of a sudden he's already prepared for a title fight. There were training sequences, sure, but the ending felt pretty rushed. Other than that, there isn't much to complain about with Southpaw. It's one of the best acted films so far this year, and of Jake Gyllenhaal's illustrious career. The directing could have been cleaned up but there's no denying how well the emotional gravitas of this film was handled. It's one of the better sports films of the last few years.
+Gyllenhaal does it again
+Music/soundtrack
+McAdams' pivotal performance
+Really, really, emotional
-Ending felt rushed
-Choppy directing
8.2/10