Southpaw

Of all the sport films produced in Hollywood, and there have been aplenty made, it's interesting of the amount of boxing films that have come along, especially considering that this sport isn't one of the favorite sports of a lot of people compared to other sports. "Rocky" '76, "Raging Bull" '80, "The Boxer" '97,"The Hurricane" '99 and others prove that this is seemingly a popular sport to write about. So it should be no surprise to see "Southpaw" in our midst.

This tells the riveting story of Billy "The Great" Hope (Jake Gyllenhaal), reigning Junior Middleweight Boxing Champion of the World. Billy Hope seemingly has it all with an impressive career, a beautiful and loving wife Maureen (Rachel McAdams), an adorable daughter Leila (Oona Laurence) and a lavish lifestyle. When his wife gets tragically killed, his lifelong manager and friend Jordan Mains (Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson) leaves him behind and Billy loses his daughter to Child Protective Services, Hope hits rock bottom and turns to an unlikely savior at a run-down local gym: Tick "Tuck" Wills (Forest Whitaker), a retired fighter and trainer to the city's toughest amateur boxers. With his future riding on Tick's guidance and tenacity, Billy enters the hardest battle of his life as he struggles with redemption and to win back the trust of those he loves.

Others to round out the cast are Skylan Brooks as Hoppy, Naomie Harris as Angela Rivera, agent from CPS, Victor Ortiz as Ramone, Beau Knapp as Jon Jon, Miguel Gomez as Miguel "Magic" Escobar, Dominic Colon as Mikey, Jose Caraballo as Eli Frost, Malcolm M. Hays as Gabe, Patsy Meck as Judge Kayle, Rita Ora as Maria Escobar and Aaron Quattrocchi as Keith ":Buzzsaw" Brady.

This was directed with power and a ton of grit by the incomparable Antoine Fuqua ("The Replacement Killers" '98, "Bait" 2000, "Training Day" '01, "Tears of the Sun" '03, "Lightning in a Bottle" (Documentary) '04, "King Arthur" '04, "Murder Book" (TV movie), '05, "Shooter" '07, "Brooklyn's Finest" '09, "Olympus Has Fallen" '13, "The Equalizer" '14, "Exit Strategy" (TV movie) '15). As aforementioned, grit is this director's middle name. One needs only to look at his resume to see this pattern and viola!, there it is. I feel if the storyline is extremely intense, grit is going to cause that story to stand out above the rest and Fuqua succeeds in this in spades. It is well written by Kurt Sutter (Different TV series). Considering this guy is a virtual newbie to theatrical films, this plot not only soared, but was easily able to hold your attention for its entire 123 minute running time. It looks to be that writer Richard Wenk ("16 Blocks" '06, "The Mechanic" '11, "The Expendables 2" '12, "The Equalizer" '14) consulted with Sutter on the writing of this, so assuredly that aspect aided Sutter in this screenplay. But even with the help, Sutter still had to put this script together and for a writer with the limited experience in features films as Sutter has, this is still quite the feat. I haven't seen seasoned writers write as well as this.

Anyway, if you like intensity, grit and fine acting (Gyllenhaal could be looking at an Oscar nod), this film will keep you on that proverbial edge of your seat. This has grit, love, fear, redemption and humility as you see this torn down man transform in subtle, but in most effective ways.

Out of 4 Stars: 4                                    Rated: R                                  123mins.