Southpaw

This review may contain spoilers!

Some great fighting and acting but a story that drags flat in places. I would give Southpaw a 7/10.

The soundtrack and score for this film was very powerful, it absolutely worked with the flow and style of this feature. The cinematography was really interesting as well, the change of focus and unpredictable movements went along with the psyche of the main character. The wrestling choreography was brilliant, these were gritty fights that felt real. The film also delivered emotional climaxes exceptionally well, the most noteworthy being the death of Maureen.

Jake Gyllenhaal, who played Billy Hope, was a fantastic lead, Gyllenhaal really embraced the role creating a whole array of mannerisms or characteristics that really made his performance unique. Rachel McAdams, who played Maureen Hope, was a really lovely performance, she was the heart of the film and seeing her die was exceptionally tragic. 50 Cent, who played Jordan Mains, worked really well as this shifty fight organiser; he made you feel uncomfortable and oozed a very shifty vibe.

However the best performance came from Forest Whitaker, who played Tick Wills. Whitaker was rough in this role, he bore a heavy chip on his shoulder and it really worked with the tone of the film. His banter and chemistry with Gyllenhaal was a real driving force of the second half of the film, it brought the film back to something that the audience connected with. You believed Whitaker was an expert of wrestling from how he was so genuine and fell into the training scenes; especially when it came to the defense scenes. The most powerful moment from Whitaker was when one of the young children who went to his gym was killed and he broke down, it was one of the best scenes of the film.

Unfortunately the film's editing was fairly basic and didn't blend well with the great cinematography; it was a steady progression of cutting with nothing out of the box thrown in. The plot itself had a lot of failings in that the intensity dropped several times. There was a lot of focus upon Billy's grief but it went to such extremes that he no longer was likeable as a character and I still question whether or not he was really redeemed at the end of the film. Suddenly Billy was forced to live a life where he made little money and this was painted as hell for him; yet he was someone who had apparently grown up in this environment so there was a double standard in the writing there. The introduction of Wills was a bit problematic as his connection to Billy before they met in the film was never really explained. Ultimately the film's pacing was all over the place and more often than not you felt like the film had gone on for too long.

Oona Laurence, who played Leila Hope, was a bad child actress; her dialogue delivery and motions felt forced and she had absolutely zero chemistry with Gyllenhaal. Naomie Harris, who played Angela Rivera, was in the film out of plot necessity; she just spewed lines that Gyllenhaal responded to most of the time. Beau Knapp, who played Jon Jon, was this annoying role that was around to fill in a few scenes; he wasn't important and had very little screen presence. Miguel Gomez, who played Miguel 'Magic' Escobar, gave a very wooden performance; he was quite a cut and dry antagonist.