Score: 2.5/5
Director Antoine Fuqua’s boxing drama, “Southpaw”, is less so much a movie about boxing as it is about the man behind the gloves. But with minimal character development and predictable plot, the film could not achieve the depth necessary to propel it past being a cliché sports flick. But there’s a twist.
The story follows the fall and resurrection of champion boxer Billy Hope (Jake Gyllenhaal). Billy, who is first introduced during a close-call boxing match that turned out to be rigged in his favor, appeared to have it all — fortune, fame, success and an entourage. But above all else, he had the love and support of his loyal wife Maureen Hope (Rachel McAdams) and daughter Leila Hope (Oona Laurence).
One thing Billy didn’t have, however, was an ability to manage his anger. During the news conference held after his winning match, up-and-coming boxer Miguel “Magic” Escobar, (Miguel Gomez), taunts Billy with a proposal to stage a match between the two. Later on, Billy has a brief burst of released frustration when his manager Jordan Mains (Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson), advises against it. This dramatic display of emotion is one of many occurrences throughout the film, as Billy struggles to battle his feelings over the impending tragedy to come.
Concerned over the injuries her husband sustained after his previous match, Maureen convinces Billy to quit boxing while he is still on top as a light heavyweight champion. In taking Maureen’s advice, Billy refuses the boxing matches Mains lined up for him and while attending a charity ceremony, during which viewers learn he and Maureen grew up together as orphans in the system, he announces his plans to retire.
After his speech, he runs into Miguel — who taunts Billy yet again while firing insults towards Maureen. Ignoring Maureen’s request to ignore it and go home, Billy punches Miguel, which leads to an all-out brawl between the two boxers and their entourages. It comes to a halt when gun shots are fired off and Maureen is found on the floor, injured. In Billy’s arms, Maureen bleeds to death with her last words a plea to go home. The gunman is revealed to be Miguel’s brother Hector Escobar, (Danny Henriquez), who flees the scene.
Struck with grief and an obsessive urgency to find and seek revenge on Hector, Billy gets wrapped up with drugs, alcohol and suicidal behavior. As his life plummets, his career goes down with it until everything is taken away — including Leila to protective services by court ruling until he was capable of raising a child again.
With nowhere else to go, Billy rents a cheap apartment and seeks employment at a run-down local gym. Ironically, the gym owner Titus “Tick” Wills, (Forest Whitaker), trained the boxer who lost in the beginning match due to a bribe that Billy admitted to Tick. Under the condition that Billy absolve all drugs and bad behavior, Wills agreed to train the washed up boxer.
During the first training session between Tick and Billy, the film’s title clicks with the story. Southpaw is a boxing stance where the boxer has his right glove and foot forward and hooks with the left glove, which is generally why this is used by left-handed boxers. Tick adjusts Billy’s stance and teaches him defensive strategy so that he would, essentially, stop blocking punches with his face.
Billy’s life starts to improve while he works and trains at the gym, but the inability to take his daughter home distances their relationship. Eventually, his life begins to take a turn for the better when he is approached by Mains with a proposal to arrange a match between Billy and Miguel.
Fearful that Billy will merely seek out revenge for his wife, Tick is reluctant to train Billy for the match against Miguel. However, he has a change of heart when one of his younger boxing students is killed defending his mother against his abusive father.
After a touching moment at Maureen’s grave between Billy and Leila, who he had just regained custody over, the movie jumped straight to the, frankly, cheesy compilation of training b-roll set over the Eminem track “Phenomenal”, the first song released on the movie’s soundtrack.
Fast forward to the big match and, with Leila watching backstage, Billy overpowers Miguel and not only takes back his world title, but his daughter’s love as well.
Where the film excelled was in its well-choreographed fight and training scenes, which is an obvious requirement for any good boxing film, and cinematography. Casting Gyllenhaal as the main protagonist was another smart move. The actor spent five months getting fit for the role and his intensely dedicated performance is what really carried the film along.
Where it fails is that there isn’t really much to it past the synopsis — it was just too linear. There wasn’t anything profound to take away from this film, at the surface. The story itself felt like it simply recycled ideas from boxing films before it, such as “Rocky” and “Raging Bull”, without contributing anything fresh.
But, here’s the twist. Eminem was originally supposed to play Billy and at it’s core, this story isn’t about boxing, but rather a metaphor about the rapper’s personal struggles and relationship with his daughter. Unfortunately, without having done previous research, no one would have caught that. So, as a boxing movie, it’s alright. As a movie about Eminem, it’s still just alright.