Southpaw
Release Date: July 24th, 2015 (USA)
Director: Antoine Fuqua
Producers: Antoine Fuqua, Steve Tisch, Todd Black, Jason Blumenthal, Alan Riche, and Peter Riche
Executive Producers: Kurt Sutter, David Ranes, Dylan Sellers, Ezra Swerdlow, David L. Schiff
Genre: Drama film/Thriller
Rated: R
Running Time: 2 hr 3 min
Cast
Billy Hope … Jake Gyllenhaal
Maureen Hope … Rachel McAdams
Leila Hope … Oona Laurence
Titus “Tick” Wills … Forest Whitaker
Jordan Mains … Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson
Synopsis: “Billy “The Great” Hope (Jake Gyllenhaal), the reigning junior middleweight boxing champion, has an impressive career, a loving wife and daughter, and a lavish lifestyle. However, when tragedy strikes, Billy hits rock bottom, losing his family, his house and his manager. He soon finds an unlikely savior in Tick Willis (Forest Whitaker), a former fighter who trains the city’s toughest amateur boxers. With his future on the line, Hope fights to reclaim the trust of those he loves the most. – imbd”
My thoughts…
To be quite honest, I really had no intention of watching this film because I’m not really big into boxing/fighting movies. The title of a movie is so important to me since there’s a hint of the film. Being that I have no clue what “southpaw” stood for, I just shrugged it off. It was until my boyfriend said, “we’re gunna watch this movie,” that I started paying attention. Thanks to him, I’m GLAD we went to see it! It wasn’t your typical fighting movie FOR SURE! Seriously, if Jake Gyllenhaal doesn’t get SOME kind of award for this, I’ll protest. Just kidding, but I’ll be very disappointed.
What I liked…
1. Gyllenhaal’s Extreme Transformation – It wasn’t even a year ago when Gyllenhaal played the manipulative, ambitious cameraman in Nightcrawler where he lost a lot of weight for the film. Fast forward to the present and he’s a buffed up boxer. Watch the featurette to see his transformation and check out this photo below to compare this drastic physical change:
2. Mr. and Mrs. Hope – I really enjoyed seeing the relationship between Billy and Mo Hope at the beginning of the film because it was the foundation of the movie: Mo directed Billy’s every step in his life where all decisions were made by her. Billy’s “rock” was his wife. You can see the unconditional love they had for one another.
3. THE FEELS – I believe I cried about 5 times in this film. I recall turning to my boyfriend and stating, “I can’t,” about three times. It was hard to watch because it brought back some of the worst memories in my life so I knew exactly what Billy and Leila were going through. If you get emotional with movies, take a box of Kleenex. You’re welcome.
4. Father and Daughter – Oona Laurence, A.K.A. Leila Hope, is going places with her acting career. This was easily one of my favorite father-daughter relationships on screen (for me) because at first you see their love for one another, and then Leila’s hate towards her father, not wanting anything to do with him, then trying to build a foundation again with her dad. There was a specific line that really struck home with me during this part of the movie. Tick Wills tells Billy, (something along the lines of) “You’ve got to let her hate you first before she can love you again.” I can actually say this is something I’ve experienced myself; loving something with everything I’ve got, then despising their very being, to loving them or caring about them again.
5. Independent Billy Hope – After Billy loses his wife, there’s a long time when you wonder, “is this dude gonna make it without his wife?” because everything goes wrong. EVERYTHING. It was nice being able to see him get back on his feet again and becoming an even better person than before.
6. The Boxing Scenes – Duuuuuuuuuuuuuude. Ouch. If only real fights were as good as these and not just dancing around the ring and hugging.
7. Forest Whitaker and Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson – Whitaker needs to be in more films. Why isn’t he already? WHY?! He’s such an incredible actor and brought out Tick Wills in this film. Excellent supporting actor. I was pleased with 50 Cent’s acting skills. It wasn’t the best, but he did fairly well (I can definitely see him in a future Mafia movie). With Jordan Mains, you saw the good and the bad with his character and that of the boxing business.
8. The Irony of “Hope” – The movie slogan is “Believe in Hope” which has a double meaning. 1. To believe in the man, Billy Hope and 2. To have that desire and feeling of trust that things will get better. I say the irony because there’s a huge chunk of the film where Billy doesn’t believe things will change, but they do when he begins to trust in others and himself.
9. When Filming a Boxing Movie, Include a Real Boxer – It was awesome to see Victor Ortiz in this film training Billy Hope. I bet that was a great experience for Gyllenhaal.
What I Didn’t Like…
I wasn’t content with the ending. I’m happy with how it ended but I would’ve liked to see how Leila and Billy were doing with their new lives. I feel as though I didn’t get the closure I wanted with this film. That’s pretty much it.
Themes…
This is the English teacher in me. Sorry.
1. It’s not about how hard you hit, but how hard you can get hit.
2. Family comes first.
3. Money isn’t everything.
4. Be careful who you trust.
My Rating…
I give this movie a 4.5 due to 50 Cent and the ending. It was a great story with some amazing actors. This is a movie I will see again. I highly recommend it! It made my want to hit up Academy for some boxing gloves. In the words of my boyfriend, “If you like boxing and getting your feels torn to shreds, watch Southpaw.”
Southpaw Trailer
Gyllenhaal’s Physical Transformation:
Want to know how Jake went from thin to gaining 15 pounds of muscle? Check out this article:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/men/active/11265503/How-to-get-a-boxers-body-like-Jake-Gyllenhaal.html
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