Better the second time around, by miles!!

Rating: 9/10 (29 November 2009)

I never for one second appreciated the first time i watched the first Rocky movie. Being about 8, i actually didn't even know who won the first fight between creed and balboa, i'd paid that little attention to it. being told of course over and over that "the first is always the best", "huh, yeh right" i thought. I'd expected it to be like rocky 3 or 4, but better. They were the films id grown up watching first off as a kid and loved them! The all action blow outs, with big hitting rounds of straight to the point boxing. At the time i felt it to be just too long, too boring and just so action less in comparison, and lets be honest, action as a kid is what we all wanted! I then eventually got to wait up late one evening and watch number 2, so basically i watched them all over the place in terms of order.
However, much further down the line in my life, i watched Rocky for the first time in about 16 years, nothing els on, i had nothing to do, so i just sat and watched it. By the end of the film, having wiped a tear i might add too, being much older, and much more appreciative of life in general, of course having now gone through some of the difficult riggors of growing up and seeing first hand what life can throw at us, i was completely touched and blown away by the overall relevance of this film, i no longer found it boring, old school, too long or action less, but was actually taken in and enchanted by the whole story, not to mention you get the first true glimpse of that famous music and feel good factor that the whole rocky saga brought to us all. The fact i understood what was actually going on this time made an over riding contribution to me loving and really appreciating the story of the film.
I guess one of the biggest regrets i have thus far was watching this saga half way through first off, missing the first films out and watching them all in stupid order. I look back now and so wish i'd never watched the 3rd and 4th instalments first, but i guess for one reason or another that cant be helped as a kid, i mean mum and dad do what ever it takes to keep us happy as kids right? haha! So Having carried the opinion that the first rocky wasn't all that good kinda makes me sad i thought that now.
All in all i rate this film as one of the all time greats, deserving of its classic status and subsequent Oscar nominations and actual winning of Oscar awards, along with many other awards down the years, and of course the citical acclaim it received. As an 8 year old, i never knew i was watching something that never actually set out to be "all action blow-outs" but in fact inspirational, something that changed millions of lives, a hope giving and eye opening movie, something that was about to set millions of people on a jurney through life to get what they always dreamed of, and in fact sending that message across the globe that if u do want something, if u want to achieve, grab that life changing dream with both hands and is do-able, of course you can do it. Of course, it is only a film, but what this film did was inspire. A way to sum it up? a story of the unknown bum given a 1 in a million shot at the WBC belt, living the life of a small time club fighter, to eventual 2 time and multi defending WBC heavyweight champion of the world, a dream nearly every little boy had, I know i did.