Jake Gyllenhaal is an incredible actor and I don't think there's another actor today who takes the risks and plays the wide variety of roles that he plays. And, in "Southpaw", he once again REALLY stretches his acting skills and he turns in an amazing performance.

When the story begins, Billy Hope (Gyllenhaal) is on top of the boxing world. He's the light heavyweight champion of the world and has a lovely wife and daughter and all the trappings that go with it. However, when his wife is killed, Billy shows who he really is....an immature punk who has little self-control. Soon, he's drinking, drugging and destroying himself....with no regard for his poor daughter. As a consequence, he soon loses everything....his home, his fortune, his daughter and his self-respect. The rest of the story is about Billy's quest to redeem himself and regain custody of his daughter.

There are three amazing performances in this film....which is why I rated this one so high. Gyllenhaal is excellent and makes you really hate him through much of the film....that took a risk. It also is REALLY amazing seeing how he transformed himself into a credible looking boxer...and it's obvious he worked himself to death to look so cut and believable. You just have to see it to believe it. Forest Whitaker is also amazing in the movie....which I really expected from this Oscar-winner. He is terrific and is a very strong supporting actor. But the one that also surprised me was young Oona Laurence who played the daughter, Leila. She really was a fine young actress and it really helped that the writer got this character right. The child COULD have been a passive, crying victim in all this. But like some kids who have been through hellish family problems, she is angry and deservedly so. As a trained therapist and social worker, it was nice to see her behaving this way...it felt real.

Overall, an excellent film due to some lovely acting and writing. My only complaint is the music...which was generally great but I hated the rap portion. But, I am a 57 year-old guy and not the target audience...so I don't think it's a mistake...I'm just an old grouch!

Jake Gyllenhaal gives his fans his best work since Brokeback Mountain as light heavyweight champion Billy Hope who suffers a horrific personal tragedy beyond any I've ever seen in a boxing film and comes back from it. For what he goes through Sylvester Stallone had it easy. As Brokeback Mountain got him an Oscar nomination maybe Southpaw will do the same.

Billy Hope is a kid raised in an orphanage as a foundling as is his loving and supportive wife Rachel McAdams. They have a daughter played by Oona Laurence who is their whole world. When McAdams is killed in an unspeakable tragedy, Gyllenhaal's world falls apart and he has to make one long comeback.

As a kid who was raised by the social welfare system it's the system that decides what he must do to gain back his child. Gyllenhaal is wonderful as a man who successfully conquers the badder angels of his nature to gain it all back, title, child, and self respect.

McAdams should be singled out for a moving death scene ranking up there with some of the screen's best. Also Forest Whitaker who trains the ex-champ for his comeback should also be singled out.

Watching Gyllenhaal as Billy Hope put me in mind of heavyweight contender Hurricane Jackson when I was a kid. There's no science in Hope's style, he just wades in and brawls. Hope will take two or three punches to get in his shot. As McAdams points out he'll be punch drunk within a few years. Whitaker puts a little science in his boxing persona. Hurricane Jackson was very much like Billy Hope and did in fact end up punch drunk.

This is a fine boxing film and Oscar nominations could come for Gyllenhaal and McAdams.

SOUTHPAW is another same old-same old boxing drama about a boxing champion going through personal tragedy, losing it all, and then having to train to get back to the top again. You've seen this kind of gritty tale play out loads of times before in the likes of RAGING BULL and the ROCKY franchise, and I found this was a rather inferior version of the story: full of cliches and bad language, but with little wit or heart. A near-unrecognisable Jake Gyllenhaal plays the unsympathetic lead and doesn't really do much with it, although he's in good physical shape. Rachel McAdams is my favourite part of the film and appears in a crucial role early on. Forest Whitaker shows up late on as a trainer but only gets to go through the motions which is a pity. The running time is overlong and the character drama is a bit overwrought, with a lot of flaws throughout preventing it from really zinging; the actress playing Gyllenhaal's daughter is another misstep as she's totally cold. Antoine Fuqua has directed other films very well but he's merely middling here and the boxing scenes lack dynamism.