“The truth is, I’m hanging on by a thread”…
Director Antoine Fugua, who has brought us such intense films as TRAINING DAY, THE SHOOTER, THE EQUALIZER, and OLYMPUS HAS FALLEN has joined forces with writer Kurt Sutter ~ Writer/Creator of FX’s SONS OF ANARCHY (and he’s married to Katy Segal too.), comes a boxing film so real, so intense, that it will TKO your mind, body and spirit before its through…this is SOUTHPAW!
Raised within “the system – a.k.a. Child protective services” his entire life, boxing champion Billy Hope (Jake Gyllenhaal) is forging a high profile life in the sport with his fellow “system raised” wife Maureen (Rachel McAdams), young daughter Leila (Oona Laurence), and seedy manager Jordan Mains (Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson).
As Billy seems to be loosing interest in all “the craziness” of being “the champ”, a new younger opponent, Miguel “Magic” Escobar (Miguel Gomez) is trying to get his attention, making waves for Billy its seems, at every turn…
When a tragic accident takes the life of his “partner” is this crazy world ~ Billy goes OFF THE RAILS BIG TIME, forcing his daughter to be taken in by Child Protection Services too.
Can Billy ever get over the tragic loss of his beautiful wife, and regroup to get his life back on track, and more importantly, get his daughter back???
I give SOUTHPAW 5 out of 5 Stars: Jake Gyllenhaal is PHENOMENAL as Boxer Billy Hope! He is so fantastic playing this multi-dimensional character – Boxer/Husband/Father, that he is about to TKO DeNiro, and Stallone too ~ as his performance is absolutely SUPERB! McAdams plays the loving wife and mother perfectly too, although sadly, she isn’t along for this ride for very long…and 50 Cent is flexing his acting chops again as the POS Manager, who blows which ever way the wind will carry him, in order to line his pockets with more cash. Oona Laurence, who plays daughter Leila in the film, gets my vote for Best Supporting Actress for her incredible performance too, as this young lady is acting way beyond her years on this earth. And, lest we not forget to mention the trainer to beat all trainers, Tick Wills (a.k.a Forest Whitaker), as his performance is note worthy too, as he strives to get Billy to that place he knows he must return to. SOUTHPAW is definitely one of the best films I have seen so far this year ~ and I don’t even LIKE Boxing ~ so grab your significant other, your best friend, heck, go by yourself if you want to, just make it a point to check out this film ON THE BIG SCREEN at theater near you ~ SOUTHPAW is definite MUST SEE J And don’t be surprised when award time roles around if GYLLENHAAL’s name isn’t amongst the nominees, as his performance in this film is absolutely award worthy, if you ask me!!!
Kathy Kaiser
MATINEE CHAT with Kathy Kaiser 