Southpaw lead actor Jake Gyllenhaal gives a heavyweight performance as a boxer

REVIEW: Southpaw tells a riches-to-rags-to-redemption tale — and Jake Gyllenhaal gives a heavyweight performance in an otherwise junior-middleweight affair.

Southpaw (MA15+)

Director: Antoine Fuqua (Training Day)

Starring: Jake Gyllenhaal, Rachel McAdams, 50 Cent, Forest Whitaker, Oona Laurence.

Rating: ***

SOUTHPAW (MA15+) Knock him around, but never count him out.

Boxing movies have been around so long that everyone accepts they are not honour-bound to reinvent any wheels.

But they must do everything in their power to keep those wheels spinning.

If Southpaw gets that job done while completing a familiar riches-to-rags-to-redemption trajectory, it is all because of its lead actor Jake Gyllenhaal. His is a heavyweight performance in an otherwise junior-middleweight affair.

Tough act ... Jake Gyllenhaal in a scene from his new movie Southpaw.

Gyllenhaal plays a champion boxer called Billy Hope. There is nothing subtle, but plenty that is apt about the choice of surname here.

As Southpaw begins, we immediately realise Billy is a Hope that is indeed both great (a 43-0 career in the ring says as much) and white (a source of continuing ire for every black fighter in his weight division).

While Billy’s undefeated track record is impressive, the way he has been winning his latest bouts has his inner circle worried.

Game on ... Jake Gyllenhaal in a scene from Southpaw.

Not only for his future in the sport, but also as a husband, father and human being. Billy Hope is scrapping like a street brawler to hold on to his title. He is no longer fighting smart. He is fighting ugly.

Billy’s wife Maureen (Rachel McAdams) can sense the time is drawing near for her man to throw in the towel on a storied career. Especially while he still has the faculties to make that decision for himself.

Lots of emotion ... Rachel McAdams and Jake Gyllenhaal in Southpaw.

Billy’s manager Jordan (50 Cent) isn’t having any of that. Not with TV deals in the tens of millions just there for the taking.

What could possibly go wrong? How about everything? To keep this a spoiler-free zone, let’s just say one unfortunate incident outside the ring triggers a rapid chain of events that will have Billy down and out for the count in every possible way.

Pep talk ... Forest Whitaker and Jake Gyllenhaal in Southpaw.

In fact, Billy’s fall from the top is so swift and depressingly decisive that it just doesn’t seem possible he will ever get another shot at the title (let alone anything resembling a life).

Of course, some messy storytelling decks (dominated by our hero’s need to save his family, and also win the support of the only trainer half-willing to take him on) will eventually be cleared so Billy can mount his comeback.

Nevertheless, the big-fight finale does not turn out to matter nearly as much as the small mercies Billy learns to appreciate while lifting himself off life’s canvas to take another hit.

Originally published as Southpaw lead actor Jake Gyllenhaal gives a heavyweight performance as a boxer