I had the nickname "Rocky Balboa" throughout most of my life in middle and high school, so it would make sense that I watched this movie at least once, right? Well, no, I watched it for the first time five years after graduating from high school. I was never interested in boxing as a sport and similar entertainment platforms like WWE, but Rocky Balboa, the Italian Stallion, actually made the sport look interesting and his story is as motivating as it gets.
The idea of a local unknown getting a shot at the championship is the epiphany of an underdog story. Rocky Balboa gets that shot of a lifetime once the heavyweight champion Apollo Creed invites him to a boxing match after his scheduled opponent suffers a devastating injury. Creed expected an easy win and saw himself as the Goliath but somebody forgot to tell Rocky (the David in this scenario) that. The sheer determination, the training montages, and the love story that accompanied him on the journey to the big fight were as interesting as the fight but to be honest, the fight itself was the biggest part of the movie as it was building up for that moment almost from the very beginning and the fight definitely didn't disappoint.
What did disappoint were some of the personalities we got to know in this movie. The vilest one of all would have to be Paulie, as he is selfish, takes advantage of his shy sister Adrian and belittles her every chance he gets, and doesn't waste any time spending his money on women after getting the cash from the fight. Rocky was portrayed as a thug too but you got to slowly love him. He refuses to break the thumb of broke construction workers who own money to the mob and does other little things that show he has a heart and some compassion. He might be dumb, as he describes himself, but he does show some glimpses that he actually has a heart. It was evident that he tried to cheer up Adrian when they hung out in the best way he knows, which was awkward and cute but what wasn't cute is what happened in his apartment. The way he came up to Adrian felt forceful and a bit uncomfortable, it made me channel my inner-Marie and say "Hey Rocky! Screw you, creepo!". At least it went well for both parties and they actually started dating. The following scenes between Adrian and Rocky were cute again but this one, in particular, was off-putting. Though I grew to like Rocky and his dumbed-down personality, I wish we got more than a sweet-heart persona from him, as he was just your typical meathead here with a lot of ambitions. Paulie, on the other hand, never grew on me.
Rocky Balboa, the Italian Stallion, did something that Rocky Balboa, the random kid in Lithuania, never did. He didn't give up. There was a moment in the movie where Rocky started to doubt himself. He said that he's not capable of beating Creed and was pessimistic about it. He justified it that he wants to go the distance instead, as nobody has outlasted 15 rounds with him before and he wants to do be the first one that does that. Meanwhile, I had the opportunity to land the job of a lifetime. I made it past the first two rounds of the application and had a similar talk with myself just a day before. Instead of facing my doubts and trying to go the distance with the last interview, I called less than an hour ago until the scheduled interview time to tell them I'm forfeiting my application. Why did I do that? Mostly because I'm weak and had a lot of doubts about my future there but I was also afraid, the commitment seemed too much for me there. Also, I haven't watched Rocky back then, and perhaps seeing this situation from a different perspective and seeing how it turns out could have given me that extra motivational boost to just go through with it. What I basically did was quit before I even allegedly got the job while Rocky went the distance.
I liked Rocky. The movie was entertaining, though I did find myself being disinterested in the plot at some points. "Rocky" picked up the momentum as it went and kept getting better though, which lead to the final acts being worth every second of the build-up. I would say that this is a timeless motivational story that still works 45 years later, it's definitely worth a watch.
The idea of a local unknown getting a shot at the championship is the epiphany of an underdog story. Rocky Balboa gets that shot of a lifetime once the heavyweight champion Apollo Creed invites him to a boxing match after his scheduled opponent suffers a devastating injury. Creed expected an easy win and saw himself as the Goliath but somebody forgot to tell Rocky (the David in this scenario) that. The sheer determination, the training montages, and the love story that accompanied him on the journey to the big fight were as interesting as the fight but to be honest, the fight itself was the biggest part of the movie as it was building up for that moment almost from the very beginning and the fight definitely didn't disappoint.
What did disappoint were some of the personalities we got to know in this movie. The vilest one of all would have to be Paulie, as he is selfish, takes advantage of his shy sister Adrian and belittles her every chance he gets, and doesn't waste any time spending his money on women after getting the cash from the fight. Rocky was portrayed as a thug too but you got to slowly love him. He refuses to break the thumb of broke construction workers who own money to the mob and does other little things that show he has a heart and some compassion. He might be dumb, as he describes himself, but he does show some glimpses that he actually has a heart. It was evident that he tried to cheer up Adrian when they hung out in the best way he knows, which was awkward and cute but what wasn't cute is what happened in his apartment. The way he came up to Adrian felt forceful and a bit uncomfortable, it made me channel my inner-Marie and say "Hey Rocky! Screw you, creepo!". At least it went well for both parties and they actually started dating. The following scenes between Adrian and Rocky were cute again but this one, in particular, was off-putting. Though I grew to like Rocky and his dumbed-down personality, I wish we got more than a sweet-heart persona from him, as he was just your typical meathead here with a lot of ambitions. Paulie, on the other hand, never grew on me.
Rocky Balboa, the Italian Stallion, did something that Rocky Balboa, the random kid in Lithuania, never did. He didn't give up. There was a moment in the movie where Rocky started to doubt himself. He said that he's not capable of beating Creed and was pessimistic about it. He justified it that he wants to go the distance instead, as nobody has outlasted 15 rounds with him before and he wants to do be the first one that does that. Meanwhile, I had the opportunity to land the job of a lifetime. I made it past the first two rounds of the application and had a similar talk with myself just a day before. Instead of facing my doubts and trying to go the distance with the last interview, I called less than an hour ago until the scheduled interview time to tell them I'm forfeiting my application. Why did I do that? Mostly because I'm weak and had a lot of doubts about my future there but I was also afraid, the commitment seemed too much for me there. Also, I haven't watched Rocky back then, and perhaps seeing this situation from a different perspective and seeing how it turns out could have given me that extra motivational boost to just go through with it. What I basically did was quit before I even allegedly got the job while Rocky went the distance.
I liked Rocky. The movie was entertaining, though I did find myself being disinterested in the plot at some points. "Rocky" picked up the momentum as it went and kept getting better though, which lead to the final acts being worth every second of the build-up. I would say that this is a timeless motivational story that still works 45 years later, it's definitely worth a watch.