So I watched Southpaw on Thursday night...My Analysis

[SilverMiles]

Saw the movie and everything was great but the boxing parts. As soon as the movie started to focus on the boxing aspect of the sorry it started to fall apart.

Jake was good as always. And his performance really does deserve an Oscar nomination. He and also are two of the best actors out who haven't been properly awarded.

Whitaker was dreadful however. I don't know what happened to this guy but he has been hamming it up lately. Really bad performance.

I think they went with an to obvious of an ending. And should have went with something a little more darker instead of the good guy barely beats his nemesis plot.

I also hated the scenes where Whitaker is teaching Billy Hope defense. It's just silly to me that a boxing movie would depict a 43-0 fighter and world champion as having zero defense. I guess since I'm a boxing and know it's almost impossible for anyone to accomplish that without knowing defense.

[Build That Wall]

I have to say it bodies Rocky, The Raging Bull, Cinderella man, and everything else by a long shot. Probably Whitakers best performance ever. The fighting was actually realistic in choreography, and the training was pretty close to what happens in my gym and a few other gyms I have been to. Jake looked like a fighter in the last fight but he was for the most part clunky and you could tell he hasn't been boxing for long because his movements weren't fluid, but at least he threw realistic punches, and the slip training was dead on.

LOL @ Victor Ortiz being in the movie, I laughed out lound when I saw him. "Wait, you want me to spar spar him?" He was all ready to quit even in a movie. What a joke.

I thought the movie was fantastic. A few parts were corny, but I expect this to walk away with more oscars than Titanic, Return of the King, and Saving Private Ryan combined.

When I saw Victor Ortiz, The guy who I was sitting next to said Hell Nah, this motha****a in this movie. SMFH.

[TRTboy]

A buddy of mine from the gym told me it was great. He's a big boxing guy and trains and spars so after hearing from him I got to see it now.

[DoktorSleepless]

So did it end up having to do anything with a southpaw stance or not?

[West Coast Bias]

I watched the movie last night. I was sitting two rows behind Brandon Rios and it was hilarious to see his reaction when Victor Ortiz appeared on the screen.

[ShoulderRoll]

I also hated the scenes where Whitaker is teaching Billy Hope defense. It's just silly to me that a boxing movie would depict a 43-0 fighter and world champion as having zero defense. I guess since I'm a boxing and know it's almost impossible for anyone to accomplish that without knowing defense.

Maybe Billy Hope was like Golovkin and let guys hit him in the face on purpose. That's why he had to learn defense when he finally fought someone who was elite.

I watched the movie last night. I was sitting two rows behind Brandon Rios and it was hilarious to see his reaction when Victor Ortiz appeared on the screen.

Seriously? I wish I could have been there to see that.

[IronDanHamza]

Distinctly average film.

Comparing it to a masterpiece such as Raging Bull is a huge insult.

[IronDanHamza]

So did it end up having to do anything with a southpaw stance or not?

Oh yeah, it did.

But don't worry, only in the most ridiculous way ever.

[West Coast Bias]

Maybe Billy Hope was like Golovkin and let guys hit him in the face on purpose. That's why he had to learn defense when he finally fought someone who was elite.





Seriously? I wish I could have been there to see that.

Yeah, he was right there in front of me. Talked to him for a few minutes while we were in the popcorn line also. He told me how Brook lowballed him during negotiations, wouldn't let him use his gloves and how he wasn't cool with the rematch clause.

[IronDanHamza]

My main gripe with the film is there was no progression or plot development what so ever. "Rushed" would be an understatement.

SPOILERS;

He goes from 43-0 Undisputed World Champion (I'm assuming superstar by his house, cars etc? but they don't really let the audience know his level of stardom) hen his wife dies basically immediately after the first fight, his life instantly spirals out of control, gets knocked out in his next fight, immediately goes to Whitakers gym, does some training, learns how to defend, fights a charity exhibition, gets a title shot against his rival, wins, the end.

That's all in the space of what? A few months? His daughter was in care of 60 days whilst all of this was going on. 60 days....

Can't I get some development? Can't we see the demons he's facing as his life's going out of control and his journey getting over them more closely? They talk about drugs and alcohol through the film but you never see him actually take any. Can't we see him struggle whilst he's training and learning new tricks not have one session on defense and suddenly he's a mixture of Roberto Duran and Floyd Mayweather? The guy has a charity exhibition then jumps straight into a title shot after getting knocked out in his previous fight.

The guy sounds punch drunk in the whole film. That's intentional i'm assuming so surely it would take longer than one training session for him to reach these new heights.

Of course the switching southpaw ending just beyond ridiculous.

Overall I'd give the film 6/10.