Not that big of a deal

Rating: 6/10 (11 February 2014)

I hate to be one of those this-film-is-overrated people, but that is really the case for this film. Seeing this film for the first time (2014) I expected a lot more from it. I've heard so much about how amazing this film is and I just don't see it. It is a good film, but not great.
This is a fairly generic underdog story. The film is kinda boring until the last third and the chemistry between Rocky and Adrian doesn't really work. The way Rocky goes after her seems more like harassment than love. She doesn't show any interest in him. She feels really uncomfortable in Rocky's apartment and tries to escape but Rocky blocks her in. There's no way that two minutes later they're kissing. A big disappointment was Mickey, I thought he was going to be some awesome trainer like Mr. Miyagi but he's hardly in this film, and kind of a jerk. I'd heard of that one famous line of his "You're gonna eat lightning and crap thunder," but I didn't realize that's basically the extent of the training he gives. The most iconic part of the film is probably the training montage (in which Mickey just watches him do push-ups and pull- ups) which is the best part of the film. I felt the words "Trying hard now" was actually referring to the filmmakers trying harder compared to the rest of the movie. Although without that song you have to admit all Rocky's really doing is running around and punching things. The final fight is alright, but fairly underwhelming. It doesn't feel like many of the punches are connecting, heck they don't even punch each other for a couple minutes. Fighting scenes can be a lot more intense than this, just look at the fighting in Warrior as an example.
It's not a bad film though. I think it was even quite good for its time, but it hasn't aged well. Maybe the film looks better in context with the other sequels, but standing alone this film just doesn't go the distance.