Southpaw (2015)

RELEASE DATE: July 24, 2015

STUDIO: The Weinstein Company

DIRECTOR: Antoine Fuqua

MPAA RATING: R (for language throughout, and some violence)

SCREENWRITER: Kurt Sutter

STARRING: Jake Gyllenhaal, Forest Whitaker, Rachel McAdams, Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson, Clare Foley, Miguel Gomez, Victor Ortiz, Rita Ora, Naomie Harris

GENRE: Drama

SUMMARY: From acclaimed director Antoine Fuqua ("Training Day") and screenwriters Kurt Sutter ("Sons of Anarchy") and Richard Wenk ("The Mechanic"), "Southpaw" tells the riveting story of Billy "The Great" Hope, reigning Junior Middleweight Boxing Champion of the World (Academy Award ® nominee Jake Gyllenhaal). Billy Hope seemingly has it all with an impressive career, a beautiful and loving wife (Rachel McAdams), an adorable daughter (Oona Laurence) and a lavish lifestyle. When tragedy strikes and his lifelong manager and friend (Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson) leaves him behind, Hope hits rock bottom and turns to an unlikely savior at a run-down local gym: Tick Willis (Academy Award winner 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.

REVIEWS: Antoine Fuqua takes the best of other movies and makes them his own. Southpaw follows in the footsteps of classic boxing movies like Rocky, The Fighter and Warrior with its meaty, sensational fights, and The Shawshank Redemption and The Pursuit of Happiness, for making redemption its focal point. Jake Gyllenhaal seizes to amaze, outshining his work in Nightcrawler and Enemy. He's put himself through physical trauma to entertain at the highest level. Southpaw's an emotional journey, at its lowest when prestigious boxer Billy Hope (Gyllenhaal) loses his wife and the custody of his daughter. The shooting of Maureen Hope (Rachel McAdams) is one of the most terrifyingly real death in cinema history. Feelings run riot and a good deal of squirming in our seats transpires. Gyllenhaal's bulky frame, impressionable acting and connection with youngster Oona Laurence is mesmerising. The mid-section of Southpaw sees Hope fighting battles outside the ring, for his daughter by his side and to rid himself of the guilt he carries. Fuqua has upped the sentimentality, making Southpaw his most engaging film since Training Day. The ending dips in form into the pit when Billy makes his grand comeback, but this doesn't matter too much, as Hope, and Gyllenhaal for that matter, are mainly winners outside the ring.

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