Much has been made of the physicality of lead star Jake Gyllenhaal, who visibly pushed himself to the limit to get into fighting shape as Light Heavyweight champ, Billy Hope. While the actor obviously got into incredible condition for the part, that's simply one layer of his work here. Right now, no actor is doing better work in mainstream cinema than Jake Gyllenhaal and Southpaw is further proof of that.
Whether he can become a solid draw at the box office is down to audiences, but the core demo here should respond in droves.
We first meet Billy Hope as he defends his title in the lofty surroundings of Madison Square Garden; seemingly losing the fight, we learn that he's at his best when he's angry. Billy is a brawler, and has never stopped a punch with anything other than his face. Luckily, his wife (a warm and impactful Rachel McAdams) has his best interests at heart; unluckily she's killed after a scuffle between Billy and a brash, cocky contender to his crown breaks out in a hotel lobby and she's hit with a stray bullet. Spiralling downwards, Billy loses everything - his house, his cars, his daughter - and must fight like he never has before to get his life back on track.
Outside of Gyllenhaal's lead performance your enjoyment of Southpaw will most likely depend on your tolerance of the usual constraints of combat cinema - yes, I include Rocky in that. Because Southpaw is a unexpectedly touching, tense and generally very well acted film, but it's also predictable and at times cheesy. Seemingly important plot points are ultimately ignored as Antoine Fuqa attempts to keep his running time as lean as his leading man.
Yes, there is a montage. And yes it is pretty cool.
Speaking of which, Gyllenhaal is absolutely, utterly superb. This might be a broad, crowd pleasing production but his work transcends that. Billy has that slightly punch drunk thing from the moment we meet him; you get that his wife was one of the few people he could aptly communicate with and when that's torn from under him it just adds another layer to his despair. He's pure frustration and the one place he can let all of that out is the ring. He also not only looks like a professional fighter, he moves like one. He's fluid, he's crisp and he could kick the absolute shite out of you.
Fuqa has crafted an immensely entertaining film. Go, air punch, maybe have a cry and experience one of the best actors of his generation hit the back of the net - again.