Saturday, January 13, 2007

The Return of a Legend

Tonight I went to see the new Rocky movie Rocky Balboa. Being a fan of the original anthology, I was a little skeptical that it would stand up to the first two movies.

Walking out of the theater I felt a sense of relief, for this movie, however different from the rest, was true the original concept that made the first, movie a hit.

For the very few of that haven't seen the movie, the first rocky movie is viewed as one of the most inspirational films to ever be made. The story of a no-body making him from nothing can appeal to almost anyone, rich or poor. I can easily say that a movie hasn't touched me like Rocky did the first time I saw it...until I saw Rocky Balboa.

(Spoiler alert...if you haven't seen the movie, I will mention things that could possibly ruin a movie for some people.)

Rocky Balboa starts in such a fashion that many may have not seen coming, with rocky standing over the grave of his wife Adrian Balboa.

With old friend Pauly by his side, Rocky takes a trip down memory lane, remembering his wife, stopping at almost every landmark of Rocky's and Adrian's first date.

This trip down memory lane sets up the motivation for rocky to get back into the ring for the last time, the motivation being Rocky's desire to put the past in the past instead of living in the past.

Rocky has ways of passing the time during the day, running his restaurant and trying to re-connect with his son.

While on his stroll down memory lane, rocky runs into an old friend, The little girl that he takes from the corner and walks home, giving her the best knowledge of life that he could give, resurfaces at the old bar he used to visit back in his humble days in old Philly as a bartender.

This girl is the catalyst of Rocky's desire to put the past behind him, the desire to face the future and not view the past.

Rocky does not win the fight in this movie, if he won then he wouldn't be putting the past in his rear-view mirror. If he won this movie would not have the same meaning that it has when he loses. its not about winning the fight, its about doing what nobody believed that he could do.

Some people will not find this movie to be as good as I am portraying it to be, but some people will not see the inspiration in the movie as well. The movie is good because of the portrayal of a specific concept, the concept of conquering the mountain that is life, and no one does it better than Rocky.

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