An Inspirational Film About People Who Don't Talk Right

Rating: 8/10 (3 October 2007)

Rocky Balboa (Sylvester Stallone) is an amateur boxer. He's a good fighter, maybe even a great fighter, but he's never gone professional and is starting to get old. Then one way on a whim, the champion of the world (Apollo Creed, played by Carl Weathers) calls him out to a fight. With some training and the help of a montage and a plain-jane girlfriend (Adrian, played by Talia Shire), maybe Rocky just might win. This is his story.
Rocky's an undeniable classic. Heck, he's got six movies out now and maybe someday a seventh (though I would really doubt that). Anything I say wouldn't matter because it's been said by everyone else over the past thirty-one years. So, instead, I'll just say what I feel like.
I really enjoyed Talia Shire's performance. Being the shy, simple girlfriend was a nice departure for her from "The Godfather". Sure, maybe it seems like a useless role, but she's quite crucial to the plot when you see how she supports Rocky and also causes a wedge between Rocky and his best friend Paulie (Adrian's brother). So she was cool, and I liked how she became more attractive as the film went on and her esteem went up.
Apollo Creed is a great villain. He's not necessarily a bad guy -- he may, in fact, be very nice. But he is an obstacle to glory and must be overcome, whether he deserves to be or not. Someone someday would do it -- why not Rocky? It was also nice to see Michael Dorn (best known as Star Trek's Worf) as one of his bodyguards.
What else? The meat-packing scenes were cool, and an interesting training method. The iconic stairs scene was okay, but not as powerful as homages let on. Lloyd Kaufman shows up as a drunk, which is awkward but fun. And we have the classic song "Gonna Fly Now" that tells us "hey, Rocky's really getting pumped. Like super-pumped. You better not make him angry".
If you haven't seen "Rocky", see it. I went over 26 years without seeing a "Rocky" film just because I never had a good reason to see one. And although I can't offer a good reason for you to see one either, the bottom line is this is a good film. As for the sequel, I don't know yet... you'll have to wait for future reviews...