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Jake Gyllenhaal doesn’t seem too much the worse for wear here
BFew young actors immerse themselves as completely in their roles as does Jake Gyllenhaal, who lost 30 pounds for his acclaimed role in Nightcrawler. Now, he’s gone in the other direction, working out and bulking up to play a champion boxer in Southpaw. And once again, the effort pays off in a knockout performance.
Gyllenhaal is world light heavyweight champion Billy Hope, whose world is shattered when his wife Maureen (Rachel McAdams) is killed when a hotel scuffle with another fighter gets out of control. Billy’s life soon goes out of control as well as he loses his title, his sobriety, his money, his manager (Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson), his boxing license, and custody of his daughter Leila (Oona Laurence) in short order. Having hit rock bottom, Billy goes back to the basics, working with trainer Tick Wills (Forest Whitaker), the only person willing to give him a chance.
Southpaw was written by Kurt Sutter, creative force behind Sons of Anarchy, but there’s little of the TV series’ freshness here. Instead, Southpaw‘s plot pretty much recycles every boxing film ever made, down to the demanding training montages and the nail-biting, physically damaging “big fight” at the end. And, frankly, Antoine Fuqua‘s direction of the boxing sequences is nothing more than competent. What rescues Southpaw are the performances, particularly Gyllenhaal’s and Whitaker’s. Once again, Gyllenhaal immerses himself in a role, this one requiring him to be in some sort of pain most of the time. It’s not a subtle role, but what’s most convincing about Gyllenhaal’s performance isn’t how Billy Hope takes punches; it’s the rapport with his daughter. Young Laurence is a natural screen presence, and her character is actually the best written and least clichéd in the film. Forest Whitaker has his moments as well, as a man with demons in his own past that are never fully spelled out in the script. In the long history of boxing movies, Southpaw is no champion, its storyline has been around as long as professional boxing itself. However, Gyllenhaal and Whitaker score enough points with their acting to earn Southpaw a solid decision.
Continue reading on Southpaw: Mini-review
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