Southpaw (2015)

Southpaw (2015)

Southpaw is a 2015 sports drama film directed by Antoine Fuqua, written by Kurt Sutter, and starring Jake Gyllenhaal, Forest Whitaker, and Rachel McAdams. The film was released on July 24, 2015, by The Weinstein Company.

This was one of the last films to be scored by James Horner, before the composer's death, and one of three posthumous releases to feature his music.

Storyline

As tragedy strikes him in his prime, famed boxer, Billy Hope, begins to fall into a great depression. Once the decision regarding the custody of his daughter is under question, Billy decides to get his life back on track by getting back into the ring.

Plot

Billy Hope (Jake Gyllenhaal) is an undefeated professional boxer living in New York City with his wife Maureen (Rachel McAdams) and their daughter Leila (Oona Laurence). During a match in which he defends his World Light Heavyweight title, Billy sustains an eye injury and is convinced by Maureen to retire while he's on top. At a charity event for the orphanage where he and his wife both grew up, Billy is taunted by an up-and-coming boxer, Miguel "Magic" Escobar, leading to a brawl in which Maureen is accidentally shot and killed by Miguel's brother Hector, who flees.

Billy begins abusing alcohol and drugs while obsessively searching for Hector. He eventually gets a tip of Hector's whereabouts but finds only his prey's drug-addicted wife Maria (Rita Ora), and leaves after learning Hector is a father. After attacking a referee out of frustration after losing a fight, Billy is suspended and left indebted, leading to his house and belongings being repossessed. He continues to spiral out of control and nearly dies after crashing his car while driving intoxicated, which also causes him to lose custody of Leila, who is put under care of Child Protective Services officer Angela Rivera (Naomie Harris). The incident drives Billy to sober up, but Leila cuts ties with him, blaming him for their predicament.

At the behest of friends, Billy gets an extremely degrading job as a toilet cleaner at a gym owned by seasoned boxer, Titus "Tick" Wills (Forest Whitaker), and eventually convinces Tick to become his trainer. Billy's former manager, Jordan Mains (50 Cent), who is currently managing Miguel, arranges a fight between the two that could put Billy back in the spotlight. Tick is reluctant to train Billy, fearful he might be blinded by his vendetta against Miguel, but is motivated to do so when another of his students is killed by his abusive father while attempting to defend his mother.

Seeing Billy's hard work after securing a job and keeping it, and his ability to show responsibilities of a father, the judge removes his visitation restrictions and congratulates him for his good work. Billy then takes Leila to his apartment where they have breakfast together and then they go to visit Maureen, where father daughter share a tender moment.

Leila is reluctant to forgive her father, but she is allowed to watch the fight with Angela, via closed circuit television in the locker room. As the match begins, Miguel has the upper hand against Billy, but, with Tick's advice, Billy has the chance to turn the tables in the final round by using the Philly shell defense and countering more aggressively with his left. As the round reaches its final minute, Billy pivots hard and, although fighting from a traditional stance, delivers a powerful left uppercut (southpaw, from which the film takes its title) which sends the champion down to the ground. Miguel manages to get up before the count is over and is saved by the bell. Billy is declared the winner by a split-decision and reunites with Leila in the locker room, where she forgives his past mistakes and they embrace.

Cast

• Jake Gyllenhaal as Billy Hope
• Forest Whitaker as Titus "Tick" Wills
• Rachel McAdams as Maureen Hope
• Naomie Harris as Angela Rivera
• Victor Ortiz as Ramone
• Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson as Jordan Mains
• Miguel Gomez as Miguel "Magic" Escobar
• Oona Laurence as Leila Hope
• Beau Knapp as Jon Jon
• Rita Ora as Maria Escobar
• Clare Foley as Alice
• Skylan Brooks as Hoppy
• Malcolm Mays as Gabe
• Jim Lampley as himself
• Roy Jones, Jr. as himself

User Review

Billy Hope is the light heavyweight champion of the world with a 43-0 record. One day, as a result of his uncontrollable violent temper, tragedy after tragedy hits him and his family until he is left with nothing -- not his fortune, not his career, not his family. Despondent and desperate to get his life back, Billy swallows his pride and seeks the assistance of trainer Tick Wills to train him back to fighting form.

"Southpaw" is an acting showcase for its lead actor Jake Gyllenhaal. Last year in the film "Nightcrawler", Gyllenhaal gave us all the creeps with his very realistic portrayal of sociopathic pseudo-video journalist Louis Bloom. He was overlooked at the Oscars of the Best Actor nomination he clearly deserved. With this meaty role, Gyllenhaal set out to prove that that his transformative performance last year was not a fluke at all.

His performance here as Billy Hope is another triumph of his very serious and committed method acting style. Here, Gyllenhaal again undergoes a total physical transformation into a grizzled prizefighter with a buff hardened physique, scarred face and swollen eye. We feel every ache of his weary body as he shuffles in his gait. His speech is already slurred with probable nerve damage. We see and sense the ravages of his vicious sport on him.

He captured the character of an impulsive man who was not too savvy in life, and easily driven to violently angry tendencies. As Billy's world collapses around him, Gyllenhaal brings us all down to his hell with him. We totally see the unraveling of a man until a mere shadow of him remained. Then we would witness how he humbles himself as he tries to bring the shattered pieces of his life back together again. This was in addition to all the pounding he had in the boxing ring itself. This was truly an acting tour de force by Gyllenhaal which simply cannot be ignored.

The actors in supporting roles all share in Gyllenhaal's shine. Despite her name being so prominent in the poster, Rachel McAdams appeared on screen only for a very short time. In that limited time, we clearly see the effect of her strong character Maureen on her husband Billy. Bespectacled little Oona Laurence plays their spirited daughter Leila. Gyllenhaal and Laurence share some pretty intensely emotional scenes together.

Forest Whitaker plays Tick Wills, the tough disciplinarian of a trainer whom Billy chose to bring him back on track. I thought it was clever how they even include Whitaker's left eye into the story. Curtis "50 Cent" Smith plays Billy's fair-weather manager Jordan Mains. He really has this sleazy vibe about him with his flashy smile and shiny suits.

Director Antoine Fuqua effectively wrung all the right emotions out of this story. The storytelling is well-paced and the camera work is compelling. The fight scenes were well-choreographed and executed on screen -- very brutal, bloody, all with high tension. The first person point of view during the fights puts you right in the midst of all the action.

The musical score contributes so much to the drama of this film. This is also the last film James Horner scored before his untimely demise in a plane crash recently. We also hear Eminem rap in the soundtrack. It is interesting to note that Eminem was actually the original choice to play Billy Hope.

Boxing is a common sport tackled in movies because of its inherent drama. "Rocky", "Raging Bull", "Million Dollar Baby" and "The Fighter" easily come to mind as among the best of them ever made. This is why we may feel we have seen this story In "Southpaw" told in another way before. However, the grippingly honest acting of Jake Gyllenhaal definitely set this film apart from others. He made "Southpaw" a most extraordinary boxing film to watch.