Cinematography by Mauro Fiore. Directed by Antoine Fuqua. Fiore was the DP on 'Avatar'. Fuqua directed 'Training Day'.
The name of the lead character played by Jake Gyllenhall is Billy Hope. This is in keeping with the level of subtlety which runs through 'Southpaw'. Wanna hit the nail on the head even harder? His nickname is 'The Great'. Billy 'The Great' Hope. Which works in your first draft of the screenplay as a placeholder just fine, but how did you not come up with something better?
Billy Hope's got cash! I mean I'm jealous of that set up, but to prove money can't make up for taste a red pool table sits in the bottom of the screen. Pool tables are green,
the color of money. Hell they made a whole film about it. Sort of. In a round about way that's what it was about. Well not at all really, but my point stands! And this goes for that white pool table in
Belly. Yes I get it, it fit in perfectly with the decorum of the mansion, but we have to maintain some sort of standards people or it all comes down. Like in that song by Kanye, which I assume was about this very issue.
So anyway, they take Hope's kid away cause of his pool table covering.
Which causes Jake Gyllenhaal to act super sad the rest of the film. Also the rival for Hope, Miguel 'Magic' Escobar, is involved in the murder of Hope's wife and nothing happens to him? You see him telling a member of his crew to go hide the gun, which seems illegal. Nothing comes of any of this. I know boxing is corrupt and operates with almost no morality but if you're involved in the shooting of your rival's wife, you'll at least have to go in front of some sort of disciplinary board right? You should at least lose the rights to the nickname 'Magic'. He's staining the name of Magic Johnson, one of the greatest sports names/innuendos ever.
By the end of the film Billy avenges his wife's murder by winning a boxing match against Miguel. Winning by judges decision. That's right. The death of his wife, and the impetuous for him losing his daughter is avenged thanks to the judges ruling. And NOT a knockout of a conspirator in his wife's death. We never even find out what happened to the guy who shot her.
Of course nothing has been solved in the long term as Billy is an injured, aging boxer with no marketable skills after he's done getting CTE. I know the writer thinks the theme of the movie is something something family blah blah. Also something about self control. I'm not sure cause I was distracted by that stupid damn pool table. Ugh, humanity doesn't deserve to go on.
The better movie would have been Billy growing in a direction outside of boxing, or even taking a young kid under his wing so he doesn't fall into the same traps. The trap of course being your spouse getting shot dead.
Take it or leave it.
