Southpaw Review

Although they are often classified under one umbrella, sports movies often divide themselves into their own sub-genres with their own particular rhythm. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the boxing genre, which despite being based in an only occasionally popular game, is perhaps the most popular of all the sports movies. Why is that? Is it because we like our movies to essentially be one on one conflicts where two titans come to punch each other in the face, or could it be because we’re fascinated by those who do something that most people wouldn’t dream of. What kind of personal hell drives somebody to enter that ring and take all of that punishment? This is the main question that Southpaw attempts to answer.

Billy Hope (Jake Gyllenhaal) is currently on top of the light heavyweight devision. Sure, his reckless ‘get hit until I get angry’ style puts his body through hell, but he’s still undefeated. His wife Maureen (Rachel McAdams) is starting to worry though, after all, she wants more than anything for Billy to be a father to his daughter Leila (Oona Laurence). All of that takes a sudden turn for the dark when a rival of Billy’s causes a brawl that results in a gun-shot being fired, murdering Maureen and devastating Billy. Turning to drugs and alcohol, he is found unfit to take care of Leila and she is taken away from him. Desperate to get her back, he enlists the help of trainer Tick Wills (Forest Whitaker), to aid him in getting his anger, and boxing problems under control so that he can compete again.

If there’s one reason to see Southpaw, it’s for the performance of Jake Gyllenhaal. Playing almost the exact inverse of his cruel, calculating character in last year’s excellent Nightcrawler, the actor not only puts on a staggering amount of muscle, but completely embodies the often sweet but sometimes terrifying persona of this guy.  While essentially a soft-spoken man, Billy is a time bomb waiting to explode at any moment, and when he does, Gyllenhaal infuses him with incredibly authentic rage. Even so, we never loose track of the fact that this is a family man who loves his daughter more than anything,  and his sequences with Laurence are beautifully potent. He’s a sweet guy at the end of the day, and a great deal of screen-time is spent begging him to not fly over the edge. While it likely won’t be the performance to get him his long overdue Oscar nomination, it is certainly further proof that the Donnie Darko star is becoming one of the most versatile and fascinating actors working today.  Meanwhile, the rest of the cast gives solid, if more generic performances. Whitaker adapts to the mentor role well, sharing some really nice moments with Gyllenhaal as their relationship grows, while revealing some pain of his own. Meanwhile, McAdams isn’t in the movie as much but does a lot with her time, making the audience grieve for the loss of her strong, charismatic mother as much as Billy does.

Antoine Fuqua (Training Day, The Equalizer) does a decent if not particularly energetic job behind the camera here. While I admire the typically action focussed filmmaker for trying to do something a little more character driven, he seems a little bored of his choice. There’s nothing in the appearance of this film that separates it from any other gritty boxing movie in the last thirty years. He only really comes alive in the boxing sequences themselves, which incorporate some intense point of view shots that throw us directly into the action and make each punch felt. It’s not badly directed by any means, simply a bit generic.

Generic is the word I would use to describe much of this film. While Gyllenhaal’s performance anchors it, there simply isn’t much of a story behind him. The screenplay feels copy pasted from every other, better boxing movie ever made, without any particularly unique element to really drive itself away from the pack. Sure the tragic elements that kick-start the story are a bit unconventional, but eventually, that starts to not matter very much once we get to the wise old mentor, training montage, and final fight. This becomes a particular problem later on in the film, when we’re forced to hate our main antagonist because he’s cocky and indirectly contributed to Maureen’s death, not because he’s a well drawn villain. Often times, this contrivance makes Southpaw a pretty boring watch, even with the incredible performances.

Southpaw feels like a movie begrudgingly adapting to the troupes of it’s genre, instead of adapting the genre to fit the story it wants to tell. It all feels very generic, and while Gyllenhaal is a revelation, he can only hold things together for so long. If you’re simply looking for an underdog to root for without being particularly challenged by anything new, Southpaw might be forever. However, if I were you, I’d save your pay per view money for the much better looking ‘Creed’ later this year.

Rating: C+

The Equalizer Review

At this point, Denzel Washington could be in a movie as Barney the Dinosaur and I would be excited. The man is one of the last true movie stars out there, not just because of his endless charisma and wide range, but because of his ability to sell a movie just based on his presence alone. The only connection I have to the original Equalizer TV show is a brief joke in The Wolf of Wall Street, and on paper the concept seemed pretty generic. However, with Washington and his Training Day director Antoine Fuqua behind it, the potential is certainly there. Did they delver? Well that’s why you’re here isn’t it!

The Equalizer centers on mysterious former intelligence operative and current hardware store worker Robert McCall (Denzel Washington) who possesses deeply tactical, borderline obsessive compulsive combat skills, and a keen sense of empathy for those being oppressed. As we start things off, his gaze is set on Teri (Chloe Moretz), a seventeen year old who has unfortunately found herself in the middle of an abusive Russian prostitution ring. When Robert violently intervenes, it sparks a turf war between the various factions within the cell. The Russians send in the sociopathic Teddy (Morton Csokas) who despite his goofy name makes for a formidable adversary for Robert.

Even though it does not fully succeed, I must applaud The Equalizer right off the bat for attempting to have a little more depth then your average action fare.We don’t get nearly any needless exposition establishing Robert’s past, we’re just thrown into his world and expected as an audience to gather the pieces. Before the action even kicks off, the film spends a solid thirty minutes or so establishing Robert’s personality, and his relationships, specifically with Teri.  This really gives the actors a chance to breathe, and actually make us care about the barrage of action we’re about to see. Washington and Moretz both really shine here, the former creating a character who dispenses harsh justice, while still displaying a refreshing amount of kindness, and the later breaking our hearts with what seems to be a pretty futile circumstance to be in.

Once things get going, the momentum is nicely held together by some genuine tension and what grows into a fascinating relationship between Robert and Teddy. When Csokas first shows up, it might be easy to dismiss him as the generic Russian villain who just postures at the camera, but as the film goes on, Csokas really effectively sells just how far gone this man is on a base phycological level. We get the impression that this isn’t just a job to him, but it’s the only thing he knows how to do considering that he sees humanity as mere packs of meat. The two don’t just fight, but actually sit down and have a conversation or two. All very nice changes of pace for this type of film.

 

As for the action itself, it’s rock solid. I really enjoyed the stark, brutal sensibility Antoine Fuqua has brought to films like Training Day, and Olympus Has Fallen (yeah, I know the later is a pretty silly flick, but damn is it fun), and that continues in spades here. All of the violence here is beautifully photographed, and graphic without being over the top, while employing some very nice practical blood effects in the process (or if it was CG, hats off, because it looked great). Especially worth mentioning is the film’s climax in the hardware store, in which Washington picks off six Russian troops one at a time by stalking them and then using the various tools as mutilation devices. It’s really effective, seeming more out of a horror film then a shoot ’em up. The only misstep in this department is the slightly heavy handed use of slow motion, particularly to highlight Robert’s deductive skills. It’s a neat technique at first, but it quickly gets tiresome and slows things down.

Speaking of slow, if I had one major complaint about this film, it would be the length. While I appreciated the deliberate style in the first act, the story definitely takes more detours than needed, with Robert foiling a few random injustices that just seem like an excuse to make Washington look cool. There’s no reason this relatively simple story needed to drag on for two hours and fifteen minutes. Also, the story has a couple elements that are extremely derivative of Washington’s own Man On Fire, and while this is definitely a much better film (sorry Tony Scott fans), it’s hard not to notice it.

I have great respect for this film, even if it isn’t fantastic. It’s an action film that really takes it’s time to establish a character who isn’t simply just an extension of it’s star (although Washington’s sheer presence certainly does not hurt) and delivers violence that feels rough and full of consequence. I’m certainly intrigued by Robert McCall and his world, and I certainly hope the rumors of Fuqua and Washington returning for a sequel come to fruition, because I think that next time, they could really knock this thing out of the park. For now though, this solid action flick is just about all you can expect in the dungeons of September. Go for it.

Rating: B+