Alright, Gyllenhaal. I finally believe you. You can act. You can act the shit out of pretty much anything you want. For a while there in the late 2000s I thought you were really just tying to convince the world with overbearing certainty that you were a heterosexual. Now, I still think there's a 50/50 chance at that... I'm no longer concerned with your performances reflecting your sexual preferences. I'm more concerned with the amazing performances you've continually put out in the last few movies you've done. You've shown that it doesn't matter the quality of the script. Whether it's a 10/10 (Nightcrawler) or a mediocre one (Southpaw), you're able to commit and bring the movie up to a higher standard based solely on your acting choices. I apologize for doubting you all of these years. You were robbed in last year's Best Actor category. Not only should you have been nominated, but you should have won. The boy in the bubble you are no longer. While Southpaw may not be the most inventive and ground breaking boxing movie I've ever seen... what the actors bring to the film elevates it from okay film to pretty damn decent.
As far as sports movies go, boxing seems to be the most pervasive. While most of them are forgettable, there have been a few to transcend the genre and stand out as some of the best dramas of all time (Rocky, Raging Bull, Cinderella Man). Southpaw doesn't even touch these aforementioned films, but what it does is give us a boxing movie that only seems like the standard boxing structure we're used to. Most boxing movies take a scrub or former champ and train him up so that he can go against unstoppable odds and most of the time lose at the end only to show the heart they've learned to grow. However, Southpaw is different. Gyllenhaal is already the champ. He's undefeated. He's getting older and he's the best. When his wife (Rachel McAdams) is killed and he slips into a suicidal depression and loses his daughter... it's not about winning to get daughter back. It's about getting back the piece of himself that was taken when he lost his family. He hires a trainer (Forest Whitaker), but not to teach him the ins and outs of the game, but to perfect the game that he's already a pro at. He's undefeated, but his weakness is defense. His whole persona is that he excels when he's against the ropes. The harder he's hit, the harder he hits back. Whitaker has to teach him to defend himself as well as attack. But, that's it. Gyllenhaal mostly needs to learn how to take care of himself now that the one person that took care of both of them is gone.
It's a very emotionally driven film. And it's not that what's happening in the script is all that compelling, it's the performances that have brought the script to life. The death scene of Rachel McAdams (don't worry, I'm not spoiling anything, this happens fifteen minutes into the film) is seriously the best performance from her I've ever seen. It's real. It's heartbreaking. You're watching her confusion and life slip away and it's like it's your own wife. It was tough to hold back tears, even for me. Gyllenhaal takes the cake, however. His character is a one with a tough exterior (obviously) who almost never allows himself to be vulnerable. He's a difficult character to like for a lot of the film, but yet you can always empathize with him. You want him to succeed even if you don't really like him all that much for the first two-thirds of the film. He experiences a series of unfortunate circumstances beyond his control and it's tough to watch someone's life get continuously beaten down. A lesser actor wouldn't have illicted the same emotion from the audience. The script really isn't that great. It's Gyllenhaal and Whitaker and McAdams that really allow it to exceed its talent.
Whether you're just a fan of boxing films and just want to see the fighting, don't worry there's plenty of it. However, if you're not a boxing fan and care more about complex characters struggling with their inner demons and trying to rectify the dark situations of their lives... there's plenty of that too. It actually works well, the two inter-mingling. I was expecting a mediocre film with handful of decent performances. What I got was a mediocre film, cleverly disguised as a great film with actual great performances. I thoroughly enjoyed it.
B+
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