No subgenre's more predictable than the boxing movie, and Southpaw (2015) has no surprises. Antoine Fuqua's latest is an R-rated Rocky, revisiting old clichés with a violent edge. Only Jake Gyllenhaal's nervy performance saves it from the summer scrap heap. Pro boxer Billy Hope (Jake Gyllenhaal) has gone undefeated, his quick temper and resiliency serving him well in the ring. Not so much in real-life: a confrontation with rival Miguel Escobar (Miguel Gomez) leads to a fight where his wife's (Rachel McAdams) accidentally killed. This sends Billy into a downward spiral of drugs and violence, culminating in a fight where he assaults a referee. Losing his daughter (Oona Laurence) to Child Services adds insult to injury. Helped by retired trainer Tick Willis (Forest Whitaker), Billy struggles to rebuild his career and life.
Fuqua and writer Kurt Sutter lace Southpaw with every imaginable cliché. We're treated to a fighter's fall from grace, soiling humiliation and tough redemption. He's aided by stock figures like a gruff trainer and understanding social worker (Naomie Harris), while struggling to connect with his daughter. Naturally, it all comes down to a climactic fight that goes all 12 rounds, presaged by Rocky-style training montage. Fuqua's direction is bracing and frenetic, matched by Eminem's pulsing, violent soundtrack (backed by James Horner). But the film's other dearth of originality makes it hard to engage.
Having slowly grown into a great actor, Jake Gyllenhaal gets another fine performance. Unexpectedly tough and physical, Gyllenhaal plays Ben as slow-witted, violent-tempered and extremely flawed. After Nightcrawler's creepy sociopath, here's a very damaged character who's likeable underneath the raw emotional wounds. Gyllenhaal speaks in low, almost damaged voice and muted gestures, alive only in the ring: he's a beaten man before the tragedies start piling up. It's a one-note character made compelling.
Forest Whitaker does well in the Burgess Meredith role, dispensing tough love and sage wisdom in equal measure. Naomie Harris and 50 Cent are cardboard cutouts, better at least than Miguel Gomez's preening monster. Oona Lawrence is precocious without testing the audience's patience. Rachel McAdams knocks her brief role out of the park; her twenty minutes' screentime casts a shadow over the entire film, a mission well-accomplished.
Is Southpaw worth seeing? Less demanding viewers can enjoy the kinetic fight action and the story's redemption arc, even if they've seen both before. Jake Gyllenhaal garners no complaints from me. Yet by offering nothing new, it's disappointingly disposable.
