nan | 楠木

Out of all the films in the long Rocky franchise, I’ve only seen two films: the original, Rocky, and this final film, Rocky Balboa. From what I can gather in the reviews, I’m not missing out much, as the sequels were easily labeled as too commercialized. Of course, I would have to see them to be able to make a true judgment.

Due to my “unique” viewing experience, having seen only those two films out a total of six, it’s pretty easy to say that the two films are quite similar. The original Rocky is not about boxing per se, but rather, using boxing as a metaphor and looking at its character’s struggle in life. Rocky Balboa does the same. For a good half of the film, there is only faint mentions of the sport itself. The “action” is instead entirely focused on looking at the different issues that the now middle-aged Rocky faces: his son’s distance from him, trying to live outside Rocky’s former glory; the loss of his beloved Adrian, which makes him lonely and sad; and the fire that still burns inside, the desire to let out his emotions.

The plot is not very believable (a fifty year-old Rocky making a comeback fight against the current champion?), but that was never the strength of the original film either. Indeed, I would argue that scent of unrealism is exactly what makes the film so attractive, in the way that it perfectly symbolizes the American Dream: it’s not about achieving a great feat, but trying your hardest to do so, and the sky is the limit.

Though Rocky Balboa still demonstrates that fighting spirit well, the film itself is quite flawed. In particular, I didn’t like the way the final fight was presented. It was made to look like a live TV broadcast at first for the first few rounds, and then it used some intense editing sequences to depict the middle rounds of the fight. I found myself never involved: the cinematography was distracting and the level of excitement was just not there. The climax totally drops the ball on the entire film. And perhaps that’s what one can say about Stallone’s career as of late: he’s tried quite hard, but he’s not making it.

6/10