Salvable (2025) – The Film Buff Review

Salvable (2025) Review: Toby Kebbell & Shia LaBeouf in a Gritty British Boxing Crime Drama – Powerful Performances but a Frustrating Ending?

Welcome back to the AKAPad Film Buff Podcast! I’m Peter DeLuca, aka AKAPad the Film Buff.

In this episode, we break down Salvable (2025), the raw British boxing crime drama starring Toby Kebbell as Sal — a reformed criminal and aging boxer desperately fighting for redemption — and Shia LaBeouf in a transformative performance as his dangerous old friend Vince. With strong support from James Cosmo as the veteran trainer Welly, the film delivers moody, rain-soaked atmosphere, masterful cinematography by Simon Plunkett, and powerful metaphors of boxing as the fight for life itself.

Directed by Björn Franklin and Johnny Marchetta, Salvable had me hooked with its intimate, silhouetted shots in tight rooms and desperate characters chasing a break… until that abrupt ending robbed us of the emotional payoff we were rooting for.

If you love gritty boxing dramas like The Fighter, Warrior, or Creed, this honest review dives into the highs (Toby’s physical transformation, Shia’s intensity, and those haunting apartment scenes) and why the film ultimately left me frustrated despite the incredible acting.

Hit play and let’s talk boxing, broken dreams, and that controversial ending!

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putting us in this this uh it was Ireland Irish just like dark blue cloudy town with with no sunlight close living like I it just the the way how some of the rooms are shot in in this movie and we’re talking about salvo salvable salvable. I can’t even say it. 2025. It’s a British boxing crime drama. So may maybe they’re they’re Brits. It’s directed by Bajour Franken Johnny Machetta. Simon Plunkett is our cinem cinematographer and all the credit can go to him. But this movie, it’s there’s

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quiet on the set. >> Speed down production stage one action. There’s there’s something and and let’s just skip all the intros. Welcome back everyone. Pier Duca here aka Pad the Film Buff. There’s there’s an absolute frustration when we watch a movie, we experience a movie, we’re hanging out with just talented people. James Cosmo, Aaya Hart, Shia Labau, and Toby Kebell. And we have uh just super talented people in front of our face uh giving just give up transporting us

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times where like some of the characters are in these rooms and and you just feel the desperation. You you you feel that the everyone here needs a break. And Toby’s character, he plays S. Now S uh I he’s he’s a boxer. He’s also reformed criminal. He works in this old age home. This guy transformed his body for this movie. This is a little bit of a Hollywood trope. We whenever we know there’s high and low movie, big budget, low budget, medium budget. If you’re a boxer, if you put up hands, you got to

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transform your body. And Toby Kebell looks I mean, he just looks like a thick boy. Probably like a middle like heavyweight, like a middle heavyweight. I There’s heavy weights. Whoever’s just below the heavyweight, that’s his weight class. This movie is a little bit split. It’s part crime drama. It’s part sports movie. It’s part using the sport boxing as a metaphor of fighting through life. These are the metaphors we love. When we get towards the end of this movie, and this might be a little bit of of a quick

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episode. As much adulation as I would give everyone involved with this movie because I feel like this movie has I mean again the cinematography I Simon Plunkett but Franken uh Simon Plunkett is our cinematographer masterful uh the music too I really David Kennan I dug the music uh there was a lot of times where we’re at that in like introspection especially in the beginning where you know our boy trains and and and he he runs to the ocean. Again, I like these metaphors. They’re very on the nose, but I like them. And

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then we get introduced to Shia Labau’s character, who’s the the former criminal friend that’s back on the streets that’s going to get him back into trouble or lure him into trouble. So we see like all it’s all laid out and it’s not really tropes because Bour Franken and Johnny Mash Mashida who’s our directors they they do a good enough job with these performances and even James Cosmo he’s the trainer we’ve seen we love him we’ve seen him in a million movies a million TV shows he plays Welli

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the what wellie wears in this movie. It’s again, it’s a a little bit of that definition of this is what you have to do to create the character because it’s not just him being a trainer. It’s their lifestyle and and that everyone’s kind of looking for a big break and it’s like it just brings us into the world. That’s what great costume design, great uh set selection. Uh, I will say the the most impressive part of this movie is how these two guys shoot the small rooms.

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They they silhouette some of these characters, too, where uh there’s just a backlight and and we’re in like a real tight kitchen and and we just kind like hold the camera a lot of times. But this movie breaks. This movie breaks when when our boy S, he’s got to uh pull a heist. Got to do a heist. And it’s it’s it’s later that day. He’s got it’s like the fight of his life. So, he’s got to rob a jewelry store, then run into a fight. And then this movie does a little bit of a cardinal sin. It

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just ends. We we really don’t see things. We don’t get resolutions. I get the openendedness of it, but no. And the reason for that is the rest of the film making is so freaking good. We’re behind Toby’s character. We’re behind S. We want him to win that fight to maybe get into a good, you know, like good graces. He the his daughter’s in the stains. She shows up to see her father fight to root for her father. We want this moment not just for him but also for her. These two

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guys rob us of that moment. I almost want to say that this movie had it just feels like there was more at the end. There’s more to the ending, but this is where we are. And sometimes during the production things happen. I don’t know. I wasn’t there. Shia Shia Labau playing Vince. Incredible performance. Shia is gonna go down the history of playing almost like every single race. I mean, he’s he’s he’s he’s going to end up in like a tropic thunder uh Kirk Lazarus like blackface eventually. He the the way he

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transforms himself and pours himself into roles you it doesn’t matter. It’s not Shia. I mean it’s I will always go to the collector the collector in this movie and it’s too it’s it’s amazing and I get it you know he was just going nuts somewhere like in some happy hour I don’t know he was all over the the social media and the news the the guy goes hard and you see it in his movies and you see it in real life I mean and you see it in Mega Do like some of the things he says about not knowing what to

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give Francis in Mega Do uh which was discussed here uh on the film buff. It’s amazing. He’s he is fascinating. He’s I believe he’s like the actors actor actor. But this movie somewhat betrays the audience because we want this guy to do well. and they build this uh avalanche or the the tipping point clockwise to where this thing happens and then this goes wrong and then they have to correct it this way and it doesn’t work and now we’re here and we’re in our most desperate place. So, you got to do it.

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You got to get through it and then hopefully it’s over. But we don’t quite get there. It’s tough. AK Patter. The the end of this movie was tough for me because I enjoyed so much going into it. Uh I would rewatch it just for some of these apartment scenes because I I think that it’s a little bit of a masterclass in that. All right, AK Patterns. Wish I could recommend this movie overall, but the film buff is going to go check it out again because I love you guys. Rock and roll. Okay, that’s a wrap.

PETER A DELUCA AKAPD

AKAPAD is a versatile thinker known across Philadelphia, Europe, and even in the vast Multiverse as The Electic One. By day, he excels as an IT Mastermind, assisting individuals, both big and small, with a wide range of simple and complex solutions. In contrast, he is also a talented illustrator, a passionate comic book enthusiast, a creative content creator, and an active live streamer. Additionally, his podcast, “AKAPAD The Film Buff Podcast,” boasts an impressive catalog of over 500 episodes available on nearly every major platform.