‘Southpaw’

A testosterone-fuelled entertainment, Southpaw leaves you emotionally pummelled with Jake Gyllenhaal formidable in this pugilist tale of redemption.

Unsurprising it may be in its telling and events in the boxing ring are true, bloody and battered. But the incredibly physical, strutting Gyllenhaal is magnetic (and hardly off the screen for the film’s two hour duration) and the final scenes are truly breathtaking.

Rating: 81%

Director: Antoine Fuqua (The Equaliser, Brooklyn’s Finest)

Writer: Kurt Sutter (TV’s Sons of Anarchy, The Shield)

Main cast: Jake Gyllenhaal (Donnie Darko, End of Watch), Rachel McAdams (A Most Wanted Man, he Time-Traveller’s Wife), Forest Whitaker (The Last King of Scotland, Where the Wild Things Are)