Southpaw

1st August 2015: Bolton: 17:40

Apparently Jake Gyllenhaal is in Southpaw at some point, I only saw Billy "The Great" Hope.

Southpaw is a film about loss, lows and the climb back to the top.  When tradegy hits the hope family and Billy Hope hits rock bottom, his daughter (fantastically acted by Oona Laurence) wants nothing to do with him and is put into child services.  Billy turns to an old coach to help him refocus his life, train and get back his daughter and the passion in his heart.

It is a very cliched film that you can guess what is going to happen from the very start, but this does not devalue the emotional ride that Southpaw is.  Superbly acted by all the main cast (not including 50 cent), you feel for the characters and want their lives to get back in order.  Billy Hope has a resemblance of Jake Gyllenhaal but with a serious pre-film workout.  Muscles upon muscles.  His emotional outbreaks are real heartfelt moments and you feel justified with his character.  Oona Laurence nearly steals the show though, as a child actor she really ups the game, being the stronger in the father and daughter relationship .

**** My Advice - do not watch the trailer *****

The training montage sequence lost it a little for me as this was too close to Rocky Montages and they will never be beaten.  My Brother and Cousin completed the Ironman Bolton a few week ago and the night before, to psych themselves up, they watch Rocky training montages on youtube.  This cannot be repeated and definitely not with a rap score.

Southpaw is a modern day Rocky, pretty much down to the letter, but there is nothing wrong with that, but being a little more cliched than anticipated, it is not perfect.