Review of Rocky (1976) by Ahmedaiman9999 — 01 Jun 2018

Rocky took a well-worn story and redefined it by delving deep into the characters. Rocky's character arc is so familiar that everyone, even who don't watch many movies, knows every single detail about it. But the movie adds a simple twist, yet a very effective one, in the character's motivations.

But it didn't stop here, as the movie keeps raising the stakes by making an advantage of all the developments that have been given to all the characters.

The movie could have easily used the ups and downs of Rocky to evoke our feelings. Instead, the movie succeeded to be very moving by taking advantage of the very new twist that has been added to Balboa's motivations. The result is an underdog heroic character that is by no means clichéd. And Stallone shines in this movie and gave his best performance in his career. There are some moments when Rocky's confidence has been shaken a little bit and the hero starts to tell the message of the story and these moments somewhat worked, and they could have never worked without Sylvester Stallone's superb acting.

I said that Rocky takes advantage of the developments of all its characters. Yes, all its characters!

The character of Adrian, for instance, has some realistic and genuine details that make the romance between her and Rocky works very well, although the relationship proceeds so fast. Talia Shire performance made Adrian even more realistic,unique and very compelling character.

Paulie is another great character that made the movie even more poignant as it gave some depth for Rocky too.

What I didn't like so much is Apollo Creed. In contrast to the rest of the characters, he is nothing but the stereotypical undefeated Champion. Also, all decisions he made exposed the movie's clichéd story. With that being said, his scenes are masterfully directed and he has a very catchy style. The final fight scene is maybe the most realistic fight scene has been shot at that time. And those who think it's not, please watch a boxing match and you'll find that boxing punches make sounds different from the comic book punches sounds that are still used in movies today.