Southpaw
Director: Antoine Fuqua
Stars: Jake Gyllenhaal, Rachel McAdams, Oona Laurence
Duration: 124 mins
Class: 15;
KRS Releasing Ltd

In the long-standing tradition of great actors physically transforming themselves depending on the requirements of their roles, Jake Gyllenhaal has gone from the haunting gauntness of Lou Bloom in last year’s excellent Nightcrawler to the lean and mean boxing machine that is Billy Hope in Southpaw.

Hope is the current light heavyweight champion, a foster kid from a poor background done good, with his lucrative career and beautiful and supportive wife Maureen (Rachel McAdams) and adoring – and adorable – daughter Leila (Oona Laurence).

It is a perfect life, even though he has reached an age when he should think of retiring. At least, that’s what Maureen thinks, expressing concern about the physical toll his latest victory took on him.

But retiring is the last thing on Billy’s mind, especially when he is rudely and publically challenged to a fight by up-and-comer Miguel Escobar (Miguel Gomez).

An altercation between the two ends in tragedy and, following that moment of madness, Billy loses all that he worked so much for, including custody of Leila.

Southpaw boasts a superb cast headlined by Gyllenhaal, an actor who excites no matter what he does. There is also unshowy, yet deep, support from Forest Whitaker; total commitment in what amounts to a small, but important, role from the ever-watchable McAdams; and a solid performance from Curtis ‘50 CENT’ Jackson, as Billy’s manager Jordan Mains.

Yet, for all the actors’ efforts, they are all plying their trade in a story that we have seen in many different incarnations before, in boxing films as diverse as fan favourite Rocky and its sequels, perennial weepy The Champ and the classic Raging Bull – i.e. the story of a champion who falls on hard times and beats the odds to make it back to the top.

Southpaw treads so much familiar ground that you can almost sense how each scene will develop before it happens. The script by Kurt Sutter barely deviates from the norm, as we witness Billy savouring his latest triumph, enjoying the love of his family and the fruits of his labour before things go dead wrong and his perfect life comes tumbling down around his ears.

Punches a little above its weight, but in its lead actor it can proudly say it has a true champ

The tragedy is accompanied by the news that he is broke; his possessions are sequestered and he is forced to leave his multi-million dollar home for a job as a cleaner in a gym and an apartment of depressing squalor.

As he tries to reconnect with his daughter and regain custody, redemption and the chance to get it all back comes in the form of Whitaker’s Tick Willis, a soft-spoken yet wise gym owner who trains amateur boxers; who agrees to take on Billy and prepare him for his preordained comeback... (cue training montage scene).

Moreover, the film can’t avoid falling into mawkishness at times, some scenes are a tad overwrought and at times a little manipulative. Surprisingly, the build-up to the inevitable confrontation between Billy and his nemesis is a little anti-climactic.

What makes this time-honoured filmic journey worth your while, however, is Gyllenhaal’s performance. Confirming his status as one of the most interesting actors of his generation, he is never one to shirk from the challenges of a role and always gives 150 per cent.

His commitment in Southpaw is evident in every shot. The actor throws himself wholeheartedly into Billy – physically, emotionally and mentally. It is ultimately down to Gyllenhaal’s consummate ease in engaging his audience that we root for him to the very end, the flaws in the script often forgotten as he commands the screen.

We are with him all the way – at his most triumphant when he is raging into the camera, the adrenaline pumping before he fights his next round; or at his most vulnerable, a broken grieving man with seemingly no hope. Gyllenhaal did his own fighting, and director Antoine Fuqua makes sure we know it , as he directs the fight scenes with such in-your-face intensity that we have no doubt the actor is there; taking on the boxer’s mantle with authenticity and it must be said technical dexterity.

He is equally convincing in his more tender moments, especially those with young Lawrence, whose performance tugs at the heartstrings in a good way as she comes to terms with her grief and learns to love her father again (though I question the wisdom of someone so young watching her father being pounded in the boxing ring).

Bogged down by some unfortunate clichés as it veers between family drama and inspirational sports movie, Southpaw punches a little above its weight, but in its lead actor, it can proudly say it has a true champ.