Despite cliches, boxing drama ‘Southpaw’ packs an emotional punch
The boxing drama has its flaws, but Jake Gyllenhaal turns in a convincing performance as brawler Billy Hope.
When the trailer for Southpaw was released, action movie fans and fight aficionados were pumped to see Jake Gyllenhaal step into the ring as they hoped the Oscar-nominated actor would add a level of prestige to the boxing drama genre.
While Gyllenhaal’s performance packs an emotional punch, overall, Southpaw relies too heavily on played-out boxing cliches trotted out countless times before on the silver screen.
There are only so many feel-good, comeback movies you can make before the tropes start to feel as old as Sylvester Stallone looks (sorry, Rocky).
Lackluster rivalries and generic training montages aside, Gyllenhaal shines as fictional light-heavyweight champion Billy Hope—despite all of the film’s flaws.
Hope’s world comes crashing down after his wife Maureen (Rachel McAdams) is killed during a heated confrontation with his opponent’s posse. The heart-breaking ordeal leads to a total meltdown, which ends up costing him his title as well as custody of his daughter.
The beloved brawler must battle back from the brink of total self-destruction in order to rebuild his life, career, and more importantly, his relationship with his child.
Gyllenhaal earned a ton of praise for his physical transformation into the punch-drunk pugilist, but his best moments actually happen outside of the ring.
His struggle to cope in the aftermath of losing his wife is gut-wrenching and a definite tear-jerker. The actor masterfully gets into the mindset and motivations of Hope, making his decisions and actions all the more believable.
While movies like The Fighter and Raging Bull were better at showing the ups and downs of being a boxer, Southpaw hits hardest when it focuses on the psychological toll of being in the fight game.
You can feel the loneliness and despair eminate from Gyllenhaal’s character, a true-to-life representation of the utter isolation fighters sometimes feel.
Gyllenhaal was key to making Southpaw work and a much better casting decision than Eminem, who was originally set to star as Hope. Not only was he set to be the lead, but screenwriter Kurt Sutter also based much of the script on the hip-hop legend’s life and issues with his family.
Hope’s mumbling, snarling dialogue and penchant for trash-talking just screams Slim Shady. Plus, the fact that the rapper is actually left handed would’ve helped the film’s title make more sense.
What Gyllenhaal brings to the table, though, is an emotional awareness that makes you care about Hope in a way that Eminem could’ve never accomplished.
Is it a perfect boxing movie? Far from it.
But at the very least, Southpaw is able to humanize a hard-to-love figure like Hope, making him a character worth rooting for.
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