Antoine Fuqua’s Southpaw
is a little chaotically scripted by Kurt Sutter with plot points that are
occasionally unbelievable, nonsensical, or irrelevant, but it is Fuqua’s most
restrained directing effort I can recall and contains enough moral uplift that
it just crosses the line of what’s worth watching as a minor diversion.
Jake Gyllenhaal is impressive as Billy Hope, the light
heavyweight champion of the world. Hope (and Gyllenhaal by extension) is
physically imposing with a ripped torso and biceps. He has an anger control
problem that remains mostly confined to the ring. So that he garners our
sympathies, he’s got a beautiful wife, Maureen (Rachel McAdams), and daughter,
both of whom he adores and dotes on. Maureen doesn’t want him to keep fighting
because his style allows him to endure punch after punch until he’s angry
enough to pummel his opponent. His manager (Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson) wants him
to sign a three fight deal.
