Unashamed underdog story about an everyday man destined to get his chance.

Rating: 8/10 (11 April 2009)

Is Rocky really a 'sports movie'? You might see it that way because it's one of those films that boils down to a showdown – of the sporting variety, in which the man of the hour Rocky Balboa fights high-prize fighter and king of the boxing world Apollo Creed for the right to be the best. But getting there is the joy in Rocky; getting there is not about sports but about life, companionship, living, just generally surviving less than pleasant conditions but most importantly: belief, the belief and eternal optimism that something good might well lurk around the corner. Sure, Rocky boxes but it's a hobby, a hobby that he can't really nail for whatever financial or lack-of-skills reason. But what the film is, is a rising through the ranks of life; a look at an individual whom nobody would usually batter five-seconds worth of an eyelid to, and his rise to a chance at something.
By the time the fight has finished, the filmmakers have chopped about so much and got across such a feeling of awe that it doesn't matter to us, nor the characters, who wins or what's going on. What is for 80% of the time a slow burning and very intriguing character study of people, shot on and around the streets of Philadelphia, suddenly becomes a frantic and quite deliberately messy blur of fists and hard bodies slugging it out in an indoor arena housing thousands. But it's a deliberate tactic, to throw aside all the realism and long takes of human beings engaging in human activity and sharing human emotions, and replace it with chaotic fighting to the point we may have to just glance away.
There is a scene during which Rocky, played by Sylvester Stallone, is talking to a bartender about life. It captures the hypothesis of the film as dialogue about 'everybody gets their chance' and that 'there is always a moment when a nobody gets the chance to be a somebody' is played out. The film begins with a boxing match, a match that Rocky wins, but what follows are several scenes revolving around day-to-day life as it is revealed Rocky is nothing more than a money collector for a local criminal. The film deconstructs the idea of a boxer and does so through Rocky, a person that uses his fists to earn money but is a delicate, modest person whom you'd be hard pressed immediately label 'bad'.
This notion is done so through the slightest of subtle hints to actual events and interactions with other characters. At one point, Rocky opts against breaking the thumb of a man who owes money to Rocky's employer on the basis of pity, but maybe we're not convinced this is anything special on Rocky's behalf. At other times, he bosses a delicate situation with a naive girl following a date that shouldn't have been but does so in a careful enough manner, suggesting and promising there's more to him than his boxing and crime-led line of work. Additionally, he keeps pet turtles, which he bought at the pet store said girl, named Adrianna (Shire), works. He takes care of them and they are delicate – going so far as to get their bowl and furniture just right so they don't feel uncomfortable as pets. Eventually, it is the audience seduced into liking him, and from whence comes the overwhelming fondness for the character.
Rocky has a friend named Paulie (Young), who is a butcher of sorts, and doubles up as Adrianna's brother. He carries a certain aggressiveness to him, a character working along-side the protagonist but not as a foil so much as a visual representation of incorrect or 'wrong' beliefs. Rocky's attitude and spoken tone is conflicted to that of Paulie's outgoing, loud and aggressive attributes. In fact, so much of the film is this grounded and realistic look at everyday people doing everyday things that the film needs to pull a proverbial rabbit out of the hat to bring together Rocky and his destiny that is this championship fight. The event that acts as the catalyst is Creed's opponent pulling out of the scheduled fight and Creed himself handpicking 'The Italian Stallion' that is Rocky Balboa to fill in; on America's Day of Independence; which Creed sees as a would-be walkover victory, something that'll only confirm his superiority.
But there's the first mistake, something that the audience themselves may well have been roped into making in the first place, and that's underestimation. The film highlights the arrogance supposedly superior forces have over their smaller opponents, a brushing aside of something deemed inferior or not immediately assumed to be 'of the standard'. If the film is an underdog story, then it has no shame in recognising itself as such. At one point, Rocky employs the help of Mickey Goldmill (Meredith), an ex-boxer from another generation, as a coach or 'mentor' to get him ready for the fight and seeds of doubt are planted within Creed's head when a TV interview shows Rocky as someone who perhaps means business. The film is completely unashamed in labelling Mickey as a mentor.
The film captures how we feel about the fight perfectly. The result is not important. If the film had been primarily a boxing film, the fight would've meant more to its characters than usual and the film peels off for its look at romance just as much as it does its social commentary on the quality of living, in a place and at a time. The film lends more time to the development of Adrianna and Rocky as well as Rocky's getting by in life more than it does boxing and training for boxing, thus we (as do the characters) care more for the result of that romance than any boxing result. The film deserves the praise and attention its garnered.