Southpaw | Movie

Director Antoine Fuqua ( Training Day , The Equalizer ) is known for his gritty, masculine aesthetic. In Southpaw , he utilizes this style to perfection. The fight scenes are not the stylized, slow-motion ballets of The Matrix or even the Rocky movies. They are ugly, claustrophobic, and violent.

Billy Hope (Jake Gyllenhaal) is the reigning light heavyweight boxing champion. He’s rich, famous, and emotionally dependent on his wife Maureen (Rachel McAdams). After a rival taunts him at a charity event, a brawl breaks out, leading to a gun accidentally going off and killing Maureen. Billy spirals into depression, loses his daughter to child services, loses his fortune, and must reclaim his life by training under a grizzled old coach (Forest Whitaker). southpaw movie