Rocky Balboa
Wednesday, December 20, 2006

The film starts with a skyline view of modern Philadelphia, but quickly drifts back into the familiar setting of old, run-down South Philly that we all know from the five previous installments of the Rocky franchise.

That setting creates a comfortable atmosphere to view the film. It’s not shiny, like in some of the latter Rocky films, but it’s not intimidating, as would be the case if South Philly was made out to be overly impoverished or gang-laden. Instead it feels like the industrial city that it is, in a post-industrial time.

And Rocky himself fits perfectly within this setting. Others have said, and I agree completely, that this film is really about Rocky, the character, perhaps for the first time in the series. I don’t think at any other point do we get such a close look of who this man is. Therein lies the brilliance of the film, because Rocky is as wise as he is old, as sure of himself as he’s ever been, despite what appears on the surface to be less-than-desirable living conditions.

As his son says at one point in the film, Rocky has nothing to prove. And this film isn’t about proving anything. It’s a beautiful friendship story (played out by Rocky and old acquaintance Marie), and a father-son story.

Many of the themes, in fact many of the exact scenes, are taken from the earlier films, especially Rocky I. Yet, the film never feels sentimental. Nor does it feel overly preachy, this is despite several heart-wrenching speeches by Rocky towards his inner group. The film is an analysis of a character who has achieved all that he could ever hope to. That has nothing more to achieve, but as Marie points out to him, “fighters fight”.

I think because Stallone does such a wonderful job in setting up the story — the scenes where it is just Rocky, his eccentric self, and one other character are definitely the best in the film — that what happens in the fight itself seems irrelevant. Of course, that didn’t stop me from cheering on Rocky as though I were cheering on my favorite sports team. Because Stallone does such a great job of avoiding shiny Hollywoodness, including it’s usual plot schemes, the audience really has no idea how the fight’s going to end. You can easily envision Rocky winning, losing, or even dying. But as I said before, it really comes down to being a character film, and the final battle is summed up as nothing more than “fighters fight”.

Posted byMateo at 8:27 PM

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