"Adrian!!" Stallone no Big Dumb Animal

Rating: 10/10 (7 September 2004)

I would have to say that Rocky is one of those gem flicks that everyone has seen but is misrepresented as a simple dramatic underdog story. This movie is so chock full of metaphorical scenes and symbols the movies' screenwriter Silvester Stallone must have been aware of its complexities. The opening scene (that lays the whole context of the whole movie) shows a stained glass window of the Virgin Mary and then slowly tilts down into a haze of smoke and darkness (hell, chaos). It is obvious to the majority of the audience that Rocky is a part of a group of characters in the film that are incomplete and represent complete anonymity, but the underlining theme of the rest of the movie is salvation; of the economic, political and self. Rocky knows the difference between what is right and wrong and although he is not an intelligent character, he is morally good internally. Apollo represents god and divinity and Rocky is the humble and kind subservient. Many, many beliefs, values, ideals behind this movie. A classic religious tale.