Power and very down-to-earth, which beats anything sci-fi in many ways

Rating: 8/10 (2 February 2007)

Well, I must say, I always liked Rocky myself, but only saw the original after the Balboa movie came out. What moved me most about it was not the fighting, not his "ugliness" that some people say makes it more realistic and easier to related to; my favorite aspect of Rocky was the transformation the girl Adrian makes throughout the movie, her character, her look, her whole self. This, I believe, was what Stallone truly wanted to point out, even if he didn't admit to the tabloids - I think he wanted to say to the world that it's not the beautiful, extroverted women who truly deserve attention at times, but women like Adrian who live quiet, but shaky, mistreated lives and don't allow themselves to be heard. Realizing this throughout the movie put tears in my eyes, I won't even hide it. The reason this movie deserves Best Picture I think is because it focuses on the more positive human traits - love, honor, respect, etc, unlike Taxi Driver. No matter what movie I see about crime in whatever shape, I'm never left with the heartwarming feel I got from Rocky. And I guess the media agrees with me: look at the movies that Hot Shots - the 'mother of all movies' - chose to allude to to show a true love memento - Rocky, Superman, and... Lolita, was it? Anyway, the part when she rushes over to him after the fight was a huge climax that summed everything up superbly. I even expected that it would be her doing that that would get him to win, because that would've increased the voltage of the scene many times over, I think.