Southpaw denies the expectations of 'just another stereotypical sports movie'

Rating: 9/10 (13 September 2015)

It's not a secret that the vast majority of sports movies contain the same three primary ingredients by nature: 1 - A bleak event that occurs in the protagonists life causing interference with their career - the spaghetti.
2 - The training montage inserted at the mid-point in the movie, designed to motivate the audience and instigate the sensation that you've gained something by watching this, hence you now think the movie was good - the tomato sauce.
3 - The twist at the end that provides the viewer with a sense of closure that the protagonists they have come to feel for, have now won or lost. Success or justified failure, The resolution for the viewers sake. - The minced meat.
You may be wondering how I could possibly give this movie 9 stars after identifying it as a recipe for spaghetti bolognese. However there's one ingredient that Southpaw has that makes it stand alone against most other movies of the same genre: The grated Parmesan that is the fact that these three fundamental elements are actually done extremely well.
Superb acting from Jake Gyllenhaal makes Antoine Fuqua's job extremely easy, to the point that all he has to do is point the camera at him. Gyllenhall's acting in the common cliché tomato sauce scenes is what moves the audience and really makes you root for Billy Hope and his daughter.
I am sure critics are presenting the plot as having a 'Rockyesque' ending and argue that there is too much positive 'feel good' touches to the film. However I would urge those critics to re-watch southpaw and identify the attention to detail of authentic movement in each fighting scene, the unwarranted good acting from 12-year-old Clare Foley, and the subtle unidentified presentation of inner turmoil from Forest Whitaker that leaves it up to the viewer to make what they will of what his character has experienced, through facial expressions and limited articulation.
9 stars because these are 2 hours that you definitely have not wasted sitting in front of a screen.