The wife of an extremely successful world champion boxer approaching the twilight of his career deems that he is no longer in good shape to continue getting hit and convinces him to retire. That’s when a young aspiring fighter challenges the aging champion to a match. As a melee of events unfold, he goes into a traumatic depression trying to come to terms with a personal loss. When a reigning champion falls, ill-luck befalls. How does he deal with the rest of his life? Does he rise from the ashes to stardom again?
Language:
 English
Running Time:
123 min
Rating:
 R
Release date:
24 July 2015
Directed by:
 Antoine Fuqua
Produced by:
 WanDa Pictures

Riche Productions

Escape Artists

Fuqua Films
Written by:
 Kurt Sutter
Starring:
Jake Gyllenhaal
Forest Whitaker
Rachel McAdams
Oona Laurence
Music by:
 James Horner
Cinematography by:
 Mauro Fiore
Editing by:
 John Refoua
Distributed by:
 The Weinstein Company

What’s Hot

  • Jake Gyllenhall delivers a spirited performance as Billy Hope – a completely lost father & a passionate fighter. The body language and expressions speak for themselves. His screen presence with his daughter speaks volumes of his acting abilities apart from the context the movie is based on
  • Oona Lawrence as Leila Hope has delivered a stunning performance as a child artist. Forest Whitaker’s performance is one more gem that adds weight to this movie
  • There is a stage in the movie that goes slow and in rigmarole. The series of events when Billy pushes himself into a self-destructive behavior, addiction are stressed very well in Antoine Fuqua’s direction to show the pangs of someone who went southwards too fast from the pinnacle of success
  • The movie has some fantastic scores from James Horner, incidentally, also his swansong. The credit rolls put up a celebratory note of dedication to the champion composer who has added flesh to the gripping parts of the movie

What’s Not

  • One cannot deny the fact that there are some events in the screenplay that form a close resemblance to Rocky 2. Kurt Sutter could have done a better job at writing the screenplay to escape that image of Rocky 2 coming up in the minds of viewers
  • The story, though inspirational, is not something new and is a tried and

    tested formula in Hollywood, adding much to the drop in expectations.

Badges

Verdict

Verdict Stamp

Southpaw is all about a boxer who does not know how to defend, becomes an undisputed undefeated world champion and loses it when he loses the most prized possession of his life. If you are able to conceive how he recovers to learn defense in his final push for success, this movie is for you!