Film Review: Southpaw

 Genre: Action, Drama, Sport

Cert: 15 cert

Director: Antoine Fuqua 

Screen writer: Kurt Sutter

Starring: Jake Gyllenhaal , Rachel McAdams , Forest Whitaker , Oona Laurence , 50 Cent , Skylan Brooks , Naomie Harris , Victor Ortiz , Beau Knapp , Miguel Gomez , Dominic Colón , Jose Caraballo , Malcolm M. Mays , Aaron Quattrocchi , Lana Young

Running time: 124 min 

Parents advised to read before viewing film as some scene may contain scenes unsuitable for younger viewers.

Sex & Nudity:

• Mild sexual references.
• Some quick kisses.
• A man and wife are sitting on a bed and hug/embrace after an emotional discussion. Billy caresses her body and you quickly see her underwear.
• Maureen is shown with cleavage showing in some scenes.

Violence & Gore:

• The majority of the violence is during the boxing scenes, but there are scenes of other violence throughout also.

• After a press conference, an argument pursues between Billy Hope and Miguel Escobar, and after a few punches are thrown, a guard pulls out a gun, shoots, and the bullet flies astray and hits Maureen Hope, Billy's wife. She is shown bleeding on the ground, and Billy is shown screaming for help until she dies. Very sad.

• Billy and Tick Willis are in the gym when Tick reveals that Hoppy, a boxing prodigy at the gym, was shot by his father in an act of domestic violence. Hoppy was trying to protect his mother.

• Punches and blood are shown in the boxing matches, nothing extremely gory is shown however.

• Billy drives his car into a tree in the backyard, and Leila finds him passed out on the floor.

Profanity: 

•  50 or more uses of "fuck", as well as uses of shit, dick, bitch,and some small racial slurs.

• Escobar uses bitch multiple times to enrage Billy at a press conference.

Alcohol/Drugs/Smoking: 

• References to drugs, alcohol and tobacco.

• Billy is said to have used alcohol and prescription drugs before the car accident in which he loses custody of his daughter.

• A few scenes in a bar where alcohol is present. 

Frightening/Intense Scenes: 

• This movie is an emotional roller coaster. It deals with loss of loved ones, losing custody of a daughter, drug abuse, loss of reputation, and domestic violence. Be prepared to be emotionally confused when you leave this film. However, it is a phenomenal movie, and I highly recommend it to sports and boxing film fans, or anyone in particular to be honest.

• Before Billy Hope loses his wife he is seen crying and yelling for help while holding her bleeding and lifeless body in his arms. Very emotionally upsetting.

• Billy drives his car into a tree in his backyard and his daughter finds him passed out and bloody on the floor downstairs.

• The first court summons to determine if Billy is responsible enough to keep his daughter is emotional when the guards are keeping them apart and Leila is screaming for him. The scene when Billy learns from Tick that Hoppy died from being shot by his father is very sad and upsetting.

• The fights in the beginning and end are bloody and a little gory, but the fight in the end is more intense because he is fighting the man who ultimately shot his wife.

Story: As tragedy strikes him in his prime, famed boxer, Billy Hope, begins to fall into a great depression. Once the decision regarding the custody of his daughter is under question, Billy decides to get his life back on track by getting back into the ring.

Likes : I've seen alot of boxing film so there not much in original in this film but nothing like this, the writing & direction of the film are on point to really show the tough gritty world when i man loss's everything & has to build himself back up.

I bet alot of people would compare this to the rocky film's, but this set rocky apart & stands on it own as a brilliant film , although there are some element that are similar with two scenes, but this is all that has similarity too rocky 3 & rocky 5 the rest of the film stand on it own.

 Jake Gyllenhaal performance in this film as Billy Hope is awesome , a light heavyweight champion of the world with a 43-0 record. who unfortunately due to a uncontrollable violent temper, tragedy strikes him & his family until he is left with nothing no fortune, no career, his own daughter get take away from him.

 Despondent and desperate  we see the Jake character, Billy swallows his pride and seeks the assistance of trainer Tick Wills played by Forest Whitaker who performance is brilliant as the trainer that bring him back to fighting form.

"Southpaw" is an acting showcase for Jake Gyllenhaal who is amazing actor that is over looked alot in the Oscars for  Best Actor nomination, but his certainly proved that his acting wasn't just a fluke  as we see from his last film "Nightcrawler",  Jake Gyllenhaal gave us all the creeps with his very realistic portrayal of sociopathic pseudo-video journalist Louis Bloom that a swear the guy was i'll but clearly lose alot of weight for the role, as you see him a few years later in this film beefed up & looking like a beast in the ring. This is amazing transformation from one character to another that show Jake is worthy of an Oscar.

 Despite her name being so prominent in the posters, Rachel McAdams appeared on screen only for a very limited time, but we see clearly the effect of her strong character Maureen on her husband Billy as she make all the decision in the house protect him. Bespectacled little Oona Laurence playing their spirited daughter Leila. Gyllenhaal and Laurence share some pretty intensely emotional scenes together which really bring you to tears.

This truly is one of the best extraordinary boxing films this year that's worth checking out with a very realistic gripping, gritty emotional story that will have you route for billy's come back throughout the film.

Dislikes : Its nothing original but you can look past that, as this is a brilliant film.

Overall :  Grippingly honest acting from Jake Gyllenhaal definitely set this film apart from others.

Rating: 5 out of 5 for entertainment / 10 out of 10 story.