The Loser

Rating: Null/10 (26 April 2009)

I wanted to rewatch this for a variety of reasons, but what tipped the scale were two "ring" movies that disappointed: "Redbelt" and "The Wrestler."
The reason for Rocky was the camera in the ring business. I remembered it as the very first movie that did this in a way that put you in the fight, that "folded" you into the cinematic space. Scorcese, for all his many faults, really did an amazing job by essentially remaking Rocky with clarity instead of the dullness of the Rocky character. Along the way "Raging Bull" really did set a new standard not just for "in the ring" camera-work, but a new vocabulary of relating between any two characters. Those 360 spins around two folks engaged in something special between them are the lowest form of this.
Anyway, "Redbelt" and "Wrestler" were by two competent folks, and I wondered. So I went back to Rocky. I may watch the whole series. What we liked at the time, and still do is the folding of reality into the story. This is Stallone's story, even down to his romance with a Copolla. It is where we first ever in film see a steadicam, first on the steps and them in the ring. At the time it was mindblowing. Now it is ordinary and rough.
So what we are left with is the now sharper knowledge of how reality overlaps with the fiction. And the story of course.
For me, that overlapping is everything. Pay attention to the dialog, every word of which comes from Stallone. See how rich his own speeches are, especially compared to the well delivered but trite speeches of others?
This will be an adventure for me, marching through the Rocky and Rambo stuff. I expect to be left better off than Stallone is.
Ted's Evaluation -- 2 of 3: Has some interesting elements.