More than just a sports drama.

Rating: 10/10 (26 January 2018)

Rocky was a hugely pleasant surprise for me, as I'm not into boxing at all and often fail to understand people's passion for sport. What I thought would be a standard sports movie ended up being an incredibly well told and wonderfully acted underdog story that has strongly inspired and uplifted me during the hardest times of my life. Sylvester Stallone has appeared in more bad movies than good, but Rocky is up there with his best. Rocky is a surprisingly endearing character, he's tough, not too well-spoken and a little dumb, but he's kind-hearted, loves animals and doesn't demand for much outside of not being seen as a bum. The other characters are excellent too: Adrian, Paulie, Mickey and Apollo Creed are blissfully cast and compliment Rocky well, they all have an important place in the story and the movie simply wouldn't work without them. Many think of Stallone as another generic action movie star, but to me, he's not John Rambo, Barney Ross, Judge Dredd or The Toymaker. He's the guy who inadvertently might've saved my life with this excellent film. He is Rocky.