Every trite plot wrinkle is there. Knows nothing about managing, promoting or training a boxer.

If you're too young to have seen the early Rocky movies, you might think this movie is wonderful. 18 out of 29 found this helpful. This is actually an incredible movie in which Gyllenhaal delivers an Oscar worthy performance.
3/10 just for Gyllenhaal - burdened with a paper thin character and script overwrought with so many clichés it borders on plagiarism - who managed to breathe the smallest amount of life into this "feature" film.

It was an emotional journey that cannot simply be categorized as a movie about boxing, but rather, an inspiring and riveting tale of parenthood and a father's love for his daughter.

I count the "Rocky" series, "The Champ", "Real Steel", "The Fighter", and "Warrior" to be some of my favorite films of all-time. Was this review helpful? As Brokeback Mountain got him an Oscar nomination maybe Southpaw will do the same.
A successful investment banker struggles after losing his wife in a tragic car crash. Was this review helpful? 9/10 170 out of 206 found this helpful. Shot documentary-style, this film follows the daily grind of two young police officers in LA who are partners and friends, and what happens when they meet criminal forces greater than themselves. However, when tragedy strikes, Billy hits rock bottom, losing his family, house and manager. It earns a solid 8/10. Ridiculous premise! Now he is starting his life again, at the bottom. The movie stereotypes boxers as hyper-aggressive characters who need vice and aggressive behavior to handle the short comings thrown their way. Nobody could find the killer, like there isn't CCTV cameras in luxury hotels or anything. A young man comforts his older brother's wife and children after he goes missing in Afghanistan.

Was this review helpful? Whomever vomited this forth knows nothing about boxing. I started to watch this movie hoping that it can be a good fighting film, but it didn't fulfill my Hope. Has never seen or possibly even heard of an actual boxing match.

Although some of the boxing sequences aren't bad, some of them are awful and some are impressive, good fight sequences don't make a story great, and for that matter, a movie. Was this review helpful? a list of 40 images

The reason? A wealthy art gallery owner is haunted by her ex-husband's novel, a violent thriller she interprets as a symbolic revenge tale. 23 out of 37 found this helpful. As with most sports dramas, Southpaw is a film more about the man than the sport. Once the film is over, you realize it played you with the conventions of the sports drama you've seen a few times before. Boil the narrative down to its bare bones, and it's a tried-and-tested, tried-and-tired retread of the sports movie. Jake Gyllenhaal gives his fans his best work since Brokeback Mountain as light heavyweight champion Billy Hope who suffers a horrific personal tragedy beyond any I've ever seen in a boxing film and comes back from it. 56 out of 93 found this helpful. They are about revealing character. The death of his wife sends Billy into a downward spiral, resulting in him being barred from professional boxing for a year, the loss of his house and almost all his possessions and, most painfully, the loss of his daughter to the custody of Social Services. Billy Hope is a one-time boxer at the height of his fame, with a fancy house and a loving family, and despite his career, his wife Maureen, pleads for him to quit so he can spend time with his daughter Leila. We can always criticize Hollywood for bringing movies that are intended to toss some smoke to the viewer by presenting something new with repeated formulas and recycled plots we have seen somewhere else before. This will be short, Southpaw is about as straightforward as you would expect from a boxing movie.

And that's what makes Southpaw feel so dull and unengaging, it holds too few surprises. And yet, through Antoine Fuqua's sensitive direction, Kurt Sutter's punchy dialogue and some excellent performances, Southpaw somehow transcends its own generic limitations. 3 out of 3 found this helpful. The movie was centered around a champion prize fighter hitting rock bottom, and slowly climbing his way back into the ring.

I guess there is just no new way of telling this story. Was this review helpful? Was this review helpful? Was this review helpful? Was this review helpful? Was this review helpful? Every sympathy trigger is there. 98 out of 136 found this helpful. Directed by Antoine Fuqua. For what he goes through Sylvester Stallone had it easy. The film was well directed.