Southpaw (2015) * * *

Directed by:  Antoine Fuqua

Starring:  Jake Gyllenhaal, Forest Whitaker, Rachel McAdams, Curtis Jackson, Oona Laurence, Miguel Gomez

The outlines of Southpaw are familiar, but it works best when it deals with the angry side of Billy Hope (Gyllenhaal), a champion boxer who, like Rocky Marciano, knocks opponents out only after absorbing punishment even Rocky Balboa might consider excessive.    We see him in the film's opening bout, scowling and screaming at the camera and his opponent like a wild animal.    The more punches he takes, the more he seems to use them to fuel his rage.   This fight worries his longtime spouse Maureen (McAdams) more than the others.    She sees the toll the years of punishment to his body has taken on him.    He walks around gingerly for days after the fight in excruciating pain.     And this is a fight he WON.

Southpaw is a story of the events which cause Hope's downfall and rise from the ashes.    After the opening fight and for days afterward, he is taunted publicly by rising contender Manuel Escobar(Gomez) who wants to take his title.     This soon gets personal, which leads to a brawl and the accidental shooting death of Maureen.    Billy soon loses everything due to bad investments and grief.    His manager (Jackson) and trainer soon jump ship to work for Escobar after Billy's next fight ends disastrously.     The fight reminded me of Oliver McCall basically giving up in the middle of his bout with Lennox Lewis and allowed Lewis to hit him.   His daughter is placed in state care after he drunkenly rams his car into a tree.    

Unable to box after being stripped of his license, Billy finds a job at a local gym run by Tick Willis (Whitaker), who trained a fighter Billy believes gave him his toughest fight ever.     Tick is instinctive and intelligent.    He realizes that Billy's weakness isn't his skills, but the anger which consumes him and triggers his bad decisions in and out of the ring.     Tick teaches Billy to punch, but not to knock a guy's head off.    He teaches restraint and focus above animalistic brutality.    Billy learns how to live and be a father through becoming a more disciplined fighter.

Gyllenhaal built up his physique and transforms himself into a brutal ring warrior.    More impressive than his boxing skills is his acting.    He takes chances by showing us the tender, loving family man and enraged animalism within the same person.     This is the first boxing movie I've seen in which a fighter really feels the beating he took for days, maybe weeks on end.    There is little doubt Billy was headed for a lifetime of health issues.     We see it all and we grow to care for him.

For my money, I think I was a tad more impressed with Whitaker in the less flashy, but perhaps more important role as Tick.    He is a man who never rose to Billy's level of success in the boxing world due to injuries, but possesses great knowledge and instincts.    He is tough, wise, and has boundaries when dealing with Billy.    This is Whitaker's best work since his Oscar-winning role in The Last King of Scotland (2006). 

Because Southpaw is at its core a boxing movie, it ends in the big fight.    There is only so much inspiration that can drawn from this material before we have to accept that it is a film about a boxer and the fight game.    The final fight is action-packed, but contains few surprises.    Billy's scenes with his daughter contain some raw power, but we know they will reconcile.     The more fascinating aspects of Southpaw occur in the middle rounds, when Billy and his own demons are still feeling each other out.    I almost wish we didn't even get to see the big fight, but I know I'm in the minority.