Rocky

Rating: 8/10 (2 October 2012)

There was a lot of grouping in this film, let alone the entire Rocky series. The biggest one, however, is the idea of the comeback. It seems that no matter what, Rocky is always down. Whether it be life in general, or just a boxing match. He is always on the bad side of things and digs himself in hole but no matter what obstacles block his path, he climbs out of the hole and comes out on top. And it doesn't matter that he loses the championship fight, because he still wins the moral victory and is happy with what he achieves. There is no question that Rocky is a warrior and he will fight no matter the odds.
The reason why I feel Rocky is always down in the beginning is because it makes the victory so much sweeter. Avildsen uses this idea to keep the audience on the edge of their seat. Right when you think it's all over for Rocky, he comes from out of nowhere and wins. Rocky's victory would definitely not be as great without seeing the struggles he had to go through.
A huge scene in the movie, which I thought was the initial turning point of the film, was when Mickey, the gym owner, tells Rocky he is nothing. Rocky goes into the gym locker room, as usual, but when he tries to open his locker, there is someone else's stuff in there. He is then told he is kicked out of the gym because he is going nowhere with his career. He doesn't fight anyone big and is not moving up in the boxing world and Mickey lets him know that. This was rock bottom for Balboa. He could've just gave up boxing all together at this point but that is not what he does. When the world has got him down, he fights back, and that is exactly what Rocky does. He uses Mickey's words as motivation and eventually returns to him, begging to help Rocky train for the title fight against the current champion, Apollo Creed. Without Mickey telling him, Rocky doesn't get the motivation to do great things and does not do as well in the title fight, so this is a big scene in the film.
Sports movies are known to have happy endings. The protagonist faces adversity but overcomes it and ends up with the victory. This is true and false in "Rocky." He is faced with difficulties and does overcome them but he still comes up short in the end. Even though he works so hard and dedicates all of his time and effort into achieving one goal, defeating Apollo Creed, he still loses. Even though this happens, Rocky still feels he is a winner. He gets his life back together, he earns the respect of the entire boxing world, he still has his girl, Adrian, and he proves that Apollo Creed is not invincible. I would count that as a win in my book. So it just goes to show that even if you lose the "main event," it is what you learn from the whole experience that matters.