Southpaw * * *

Plenty of punch-ups in this movie, if that’s your thing.  In fact, that is what Southpaw is really about - boxing.  

Jake Gyllenhaal convincingly plays a fictitious boxer Billy Hope, who was raised in an orphanage but came through to become the light heavyweight champion of the world. He has money, success, a beautiful wife and daughter - then it all goes wrong.  The story is about watching Billy’s rapid fall from grace and then his slow climb back up again. It’s a bit of a formula I suppose but Gyllenhaal’s performance is so good you are willing to forgive this film's shortcomings.  

Southpaws most apparent weakness is inconsistency in its narrative tone as it swings from brutality to mawkishness. I was just wishing it would get tough and stay tough or get sentimental and stay sentimental.  It’s like listening someone having a personality change as they tell you something.
The timing is hard to swallow as well. So much happens in so short a time. A life in turning and a personality changing takes more than a few weeks.

I can’t tell you too much about the storyline without spoiling it for you -  especially in regard to his wife Muareen who is played well by Rachel Mc Adams. She met Billy when they were both orphans so she is no softie either, but ultimately Billy ends up fighting for his daughter who is on the verge of having the same orphanage upbringing he himself had.

There’s the Bronx located coach who reluctantly takes him on, the taunting opponent, the ex-manager who needs to be humiliated, nothing much new here.  

Nevertheless these formulaic boxing dramas alway make for a good yarn and Southpaw moves along at a cracking pace.  I just wish the story had the same punch as the bloody fight scenes. It’s a good film with very fine acting, but it’s far from a knockout