To all those ripping on Rocky
I am bored and feel like telling all of you exactly why Rocky Balboa will at least be at least decent movie, if not a great movie. All of you Rocky detractors bring up the same point over and over again, the fact that Sly is 60 years old and that he could never contend with the heavy weight champion of the world. Well I don't even care that much about the realism aspect of the movie, I am more concerned with the emotional investment that I have in the character. However I will try to make the best case for a 60 year old white man going toe to toe with Mason "the" Line Dixon. Mo you brought up the fact that Antonio Tarver is a real athlete. Ok yes this is true. However that doesn't change the fact that the character he plays in the movie is physically FAR less intimating than any other character that Rocky has fought in the ring. Aside from Spiderico or any other meat bag he knocked out in the beginning of Rocky 3. Also have you seen how large Sly is? He is freaking massive. Also with the fact that Antonio Tarver being a real pugilist has brought a level of realism that the Rocky franchise has yet to achieve to this day. With Antonio Tarver playing the part comes with ability to actually box, and from what I hear, it has made this fight the most realistic one to date. Other actors that maybe wanted to try something in the boxing matches, they couldn’t quite make it as fluid as a real boxer could. In recent interviews with Sly, he has mentioned that for anyone that is looking for realism, this rocky is by far the most realistic of them all. In fact for a large portion of the fight they are actually punching each other in the face. None of the 5 inches away blended with camera trick type camera work. Not to mention, Sly doesn't look 60 to me, I would say he could pass for 50 if you didn't know any better. And may I remind you that George Forman won the title when he was 44 and looked about as old as the character Rocky does right now. Also if you didn't know the entire series was inspired by the famous Chuck Wepner vs. Muhammad Ali fight, Chuck Wepner was a huge fat **** that just got repeatedly punched in the face and no one thought he would last 3 rounds. However he lasted 15 rounds against the greatest fighter of all time and even managed to knock him down. So many things that are related to this subject that wouldn't at first seem like a realistic scenarios, have happened before. And yes I admit that the fights from Rocky 3 and Rocky 4 are rather ridiculous and not realistic. Yes he does use his face as to block punches. But those are the weaker ones of the series. Even though if you ask any random moron what the best Rocky is, I will ****ing guarantee that he will say "The 4th one with the Russian", I can't exactly figure this phenomena out, other than the 4th installment is the most testosterone/alpha male driven film of the series. I personally don't really care for the political subtext the movie offers in regards to the cold war, but whatever. Anyways any real Rocky fan or movie fan for that matter should know that the first Rocky is the best by far, and no Rocky movie will ever be better. I mean it did receive 10 academy award nominations and won 3, including best picture, if you find any merit from the academy awards. However, from what I hear this movie strips Rocky down to his core, and pays tribute to the original. This last Rocky is less about boxing and more about an underdog taking a shot in the twilight of his career. I mean you got to give respect to Sly man. Lots of people would just feel like withering up and dying at this point in their lives, but Sly worked his ****ing *** off to put some much needed closure for the Rocky franchise. It is kind of funny because whenever he pitched this script to the studio heads, he received more resistance pitching this movie idea because of his age, than he did when he pitched the first Rocky in 1976 for wanting to play the part as a unknown actor. Well it seems to me the 3rd-5th Rocky films were monetarily motivated, but this last installment of the series seems to me that it is more of a character driven story, like the first one. In the end if you are thinking about going to a movie this week, I would hope that you strongly consider Rocky Balboa, and give it a chance. I mean hell who wants to waste there ****ing time with Ben Stiller playing one of the only two types of below mediocre comedic characters that he can play for the millionth time. Because I sure as hell don't.