Southpaw (2015)

Genre: Drama

Directed by: Antoine Fuqua

Starring: Jake Gyllenhal, Forest Whitaker, Rachel McAdams

Running time: 123 minutes

Southpaw is the story of Billy Hope, a boxer who lives in New York with his wife and daughter. After his wife gets killed, he decides to climb back into the ring, but, his mind not being into it, he loses and hits the referee in frustration. He then gets suspended and loses his manager. After a night of drinking, he gets in a car accident. Indebted, his house and belongings are repossessed and he loses custody of his kid. Having truly lost everything, he will have to find his way back on track if he hopes to get his daughter under his care again.

Jake Gyllenhal is really convincing as Billy Hope, a man more apt to speak with his fists than with his words. The actor did an awesome job bringing this character to life and making him a believable entity. He really made you feel the pain of that man who loses everything and has to claw back to make his way back in. The physical transformation of the actor also needs to be mentioned.

Forest Whitaker also offered a solid performance as Titus Wills, the gym owner who helps Billy get back on track as a boxer and as a human being.

Southpaw was written by Kurt Sutter, the same man who gave us the Sons of Anarchy TV show. We can easily recognize the patterns. The film takes pleasure in playing with our emotions, sometimes using old clichéd tricks to do it. It gets a little predictable in the end, but the performances of the two main actors make this story of redemption a very good one.

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