Fighting spirit

A fighter knows only one way to work

It seems like every time I watch a boxing movie, it always seems to incorporate the classic underdog story; the little guy taking on the big guy, the poor no-one beating the champ with recognition. I'm not complaining though, sometimes they turn out to be great while the others are...meh. The greats like Rocky and Cinderella Man are exemplary choices, and somewhere along the line Southpaw places itself as a cut above the rest. Billy Hope (Jake Gyllenhaal) is the top light middleweight champion of the boxing world, a formidable fighter who has gone undefeated in his entire career. After successfully defending his title in his latest match, his wife Maureen (Rachel McAdams) implores him to consider retiring from boxing while he is at the top of his game and with his health still intact. Billy

contemplates Maureen's suggestion about retiring but tragedy strikes which rocks him to his core as we watch him descend into blind rage and lose everything he fought for; eventually hitting rock bottom when he loses custody of his daughter Leila (Oona Laurence). To get her back, Billy must once more channel his inner fighter and drive himself back to the top. As I mentioned earlier, most boxing movies I've seen follow the same formula that we've seen for years and Southpaw seems content with doing that as well. The difference here is that Southpaw's execution is much more refined; its' strength coming from the cast and their acting. Gyllenhaal is a total beast and gets the best moments in the film. The boxing scenes while not the best I've seen (that honor still goes to Raging Bull), are fluid and absorbing, putting us up and close with every punch thrown and blood spilled. Since the rising popularity of UFC fighting, boxing films have been in short supply these last few years, and while Southpaw doesn't do too much to break the formula of what's been done [or seen] before, what it does do it does it right.

-Reviewed by Razor, 7/21/15