Baseball may run it close, but boxing must be the sport most films have been made about, albeit of varying quality. For every Raging Bull, The Harder They Fall, Million Dollar Baby or The Square Ring, you get a Grudge Match, The Champ remake or the increasingly preposterous Rocky sequels.
In Antoine Fuqua’s pugilistic effort, Jake Gyllenhaal stars as Billy Hope, the unbeaten world light middleweight champion. After narrowly winning his latest defence, he is considering his options – specifically whether to accept a fight against the up-and-coming Miguel Escobar (Miguel Gomez) – when tragedy strikes and his life spirals out of control. Can he get things back together and make a triumphant comeback in the ring? If the answer to that question for you is seriously in doubt then you haven’t seen many sports films!
It is true to say this film is filled with clichés and familiar characters: the wise old trainer (Tick Willis, Forest Whitaker) who reluctantly takes Hope on, and the shady promoter (Jordan Mains, 50 Cent) who abandons Hope when he hits the rails. However, there are enough good things to elevate Southpaw. Gyllenhaal maybe good enough to get the Oscar nomination his performance in Nightcrawler last year deserved much more, and Whitaker brings depth to a role that doesn’t really deserve it.
One scene in particular where those two open up to each other in bar is particularly well written and shot. Admittedly the rest of the script has its clunky moments – I’m thinking of Hope’s daughter’s reaction to his collapse at home – and the story follows a predictable path. Fuqua’s muscular direction keeps things moving though and the well staged climatic fight scenes should have you gripped in spite of the movie’s shortcomings.
Southpaw is not deserving to be ranked about the boxing movie classics then, but it is a contender among the second rank films like Cinderella Man and The Fighter.
Rating: 6.5 out of 10