Canon-Strike XII: Rocky

[Neon Ignition]

We've revisited the entire line up of Canon-Strike threads and now nine months on from the last addition to the line up we add a new one. This time we set aside the worlds of fantasy, gods, superhero powers and universes colliding for the legacy of a single man deciding to make the most of an opportunity he has been given





Film 01 - Rocky
Written in just three days and going on to score an Oscar, the original follows Rocky Balboa who has missed his opportunity for greatness and works as a debt collector until destiny knocks on his door with Apollo Creed offering a once in a lifetime shot at the belt as part of a promotional match to boost Creed's credibility. Feeling that he has no hope of beating a world class athlete like Creed, Balboa undergoes training to get himself into shape and to prove to himself that he hasn't wasted his life if he can only go the distance...

Unbeknownst to anyone, the film would launch a saga that will soon span nine films in length. What is your opinion of the original film and its place within the saga?

[Finsbury Girl]

ADRIAAAAAN! The OG is great BUT Rocko was still to hit the massive highs in 1982.

[Neon Ignition]

I feel with Rocky it's very easy to see the film and it look like the template for them all but it's a bit more nuanced than that as the structure and beats of the film weren't new at the time and they've been done to death since and yet it's nearly always a swing and miss from other films whilst Rocky has struck gold repeatedly despite the apparent similarities between entries. There's an element of casting being one of the keys but I think with the original film the magic really was that it not only makes him an underdog who is easy to feel for, but it's unrelentingly so. There's no switch part way through the film where he suddenly becomes awesome, he's batting against the odds the entire way through the film only to go on to lose the match but in a way that it matters to literally no-one (till the sequel anyway). Whilst it plays out like a win it allows the film to do it on a message that's a little bit deeper which I think showcases how well it's done because there's so very little action within the film yet it doesn't become boring at any point.

[Asura]

I feel with Rocky it's very easy to see the film and it look like the template for them all but it's a bit more nuanced than that as the structure and beats of the film weren't new at the time and they've been done to death since and yet it's nearly always a swing and miss from other films whilst Rocky has struck gold repeatedly despite the apparent similarities between entries. There's an element of casting being one of the keys but I think with the original film the magic really was that it not only makes him an underdog who is easy to feel for, but it's unrelentingly so. There's no switch part way through the film where he suddenly becomes awesome, he's batting against the odds the entire way through the film only to go on to lose the match but in a way that it matters to literally no-one (till the sequel anyway). Whilst it plays out like a win it allows the film to do it on a message that's a little bit deeper which I think showcases how well it's done because there's so very little action within the film yet it doesn't become boring at any point.

Yeah, the first film is gripping, emotional and raw.

For me there are basically two Rocky films; 1 because it's genuinely amazing, and 4 because it's dreadful in a way that's absolutely spectacular and such a good time.

[Neon Ignition]

Film 02 - Rocky II
Three years later the sequel arrived and its events open at the moment the prior film closed. Rocky is in recovery after barely surviving his match with Apollo and the media has descended to herald in a new era of celebrity status for the boxer. Meanwhile Apollo also recovers and struggles with the negative press that he is now attracting, Wanting to prove that he gave it his all, Creed pushes Balboa into returning to the ring for a rematch. The film was a hugely well received follow up to the original with it sidestepping similarities to the original by critics feeling it acted as a suitable second half of the tale.




Is Rocky II a worthwhile follow up?

[Neon Ignition]

For me Rocky II is literally like Part II of the same story, it sits with and nuzzles with the original film incredibly well and if I had to distill the entire Rocky franchise down into its most perfect trilogy form both of the first two films would make the cut. It hits the same beats but manages to pull off the right justification. From the events of the first film it's believable that Creed would let his ego coax him back, that his trainer would fear the outcome and that Rocky would both stumble with fame and worry that his one moment to shine had been tainted by the possibility that Creed had been holding back. It shouldn't work but Rocky II really does.



Film 03 - Rocky III
Having bested Creed, Rocky is now the champion and is enjoying all that comes with it. However, Mickey has been too wary of the late game Rocky entered the professional boxing world and has secretly been setting up easy fights for Balboa. When this leads Rocky to accept a challenge from ruthless up and comer Clubber Lang, it costs him his title and the life of his friend setting up a fight for payback. Reviews weren't as strong for the third entry but it was another KO for the box office.





A come down from the previous films or do you pity the fool who doesn't love Rocky III?

[Neon Ignition]

I enjoy Rocky III but for me it's part of an arc where things go somewhat wrong for the franchise. Whilst there are weaker entries we hit a period where Rocky starts to essentially lose sense of even being the same character, Stallone being too egotistical at the time to allow himself to not look physically right for the role or have Balboa be too 'punchy'. The core arc of the film is actually fine and Mr T does a great job of making a post-Creed impact as well but the film skirts with spoiling it and age has allowed it to fit the overall franchise mythology well but as a trilogy R3 is an undoubted step down from the prior two films.

[Neon Ignition]

Film 04 - Rocky IV
We reach peak glam in the franchise with the Cold War era fourth entry that see's Creed run foul of his ego and leads Rocky to go face to face with his killer Drago. It has a lean 91 minute run time but still manages to cram in multiple montages and continues to chart Balboa at the peak of his career and extravagant lifestyle.






Did Rocky IV's plot additions to the franchise make you feel like you had a Heart on Fire or should it have thrown in the damned towel?

[Asura]

Film 04 - Rocky IV
Did Rocky IV's plot additions to the franchise make you feel like you had a Heart on Fire or should it have thrown in the damned towel?

Absolutely love it. It's the absolute peak, the utter zenith of "80s excess fever dream". The Russians are the baddies. Rocky has a robot. Dolph Lundgren is there.

DRAGOOOOOOO
DRAGOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

I MUST BREAK YOU

Bonus, which [MENTION=16665]Blobcat[/MENTION] will tell me off for saying but I don't care. Her favourite bit of the movie brought tears when Rocky finally gets the upper hand in the match at the end, and you get

<Drago's corner>
"He's not a man... He's like... Like a piece of iron!"

<Rocky's corner>
"Y'SEE! You made him bleed! He's not a machine! He's a man! And he'll die like a man!"

I said this above, but to me, there are two Rocky movies, I and IV, and I love them both for entirely different reasons.

[Neon Ignition]

Rocky IV is a weird one and I can see why it's the only one Stallone felt the need to go back and tinker with. I'd argue that Rocky IV is the entry that has the least to add of all the Rocky films, it broadly just retreads the same beats as Rocky III but in a thinner, leaner form but I there are undoubtedly a lot of likeable elements even if by this point Paulie and Creed are the only characters to really resemble how they should be

[Neon Ignition]

Film 05 - Rocky V
For a long time this was where the Rocky saga ended, with Paulie causing Balboa to lose his fortune right at the end of his career resulting in them all needing to move back to Philly and the relationship between Rocky and his son falling apart as Rocky focuses on helping a new comer boxer. An attempt at grounding the franchise again after the prior two entries, the film was the least well received entry and its lowest grossing.





Was Rocky V's evolution of the arc a good idea or one deserving to be (Tommy) Machine Gunned?

[Dogg Thang]

I have missed this whole thread so I'll just do a little roundup of where I'm at:

Rocky - I think this is one of the best films ever made. What I mean by that is that, yes, I enjoy it and find it very rewatchable although it's not one I go back to again and again but, in terms of a movie structure, it's pretty much perfect. And almost anyone I know who writes for the screen has spent time breaking this movie down at some point. The story is relatable, it has heart, it's really all about that heart. It's believable and it's a journey throughout and so, so simple. The whole movie is just one guy trying to prove he's not a loser and that's something I think we can all identify with at some point in our lives.

Rocky II - A strong enough sequel. Had the first not been so good, this movie would stand out on its own. It works really well. Taken together with the first, I'm not entirely sure it adds all that much but it's enjoyable.

Rocky III - Things start to change a little here. I think we forget all about the fact that Rocky had a detached retina and was pretty much one fight away from blindness and he starts to become a bit more of a hero character. It's an enjoyable movie but I feel it's caught between two worlds (the worlds of the first film and of Rocky IV) and doesn't quite deliver on either world.

Rocky IV - This movie is utterly ridiculous. I get why it was popular but watching it again years later, its stupidity is very apparent. There's not much more here than some montage sequences and terrible jingoism. It's a really fun movie but I also think it's an awful movie and so far away from the first movie. It lost everything by this point. A shallow piece of music-driven propaganda.

Rocky V - This is a tough watch because it's pretty miserable. It's not an entertaining movie. I don't really like it and I can see why most other people don't like it either. And yet taken in context and knowing what came next, I see it as an essential movie in that what they did was try to undo the direction of Rocky IV and I think that was desperately needed. It needed to be grounded. It needed to get smaller and murkier. I guess they could have gone the other way and it would have become the Fast & Furious of boxing movies but to get to Rocky Balboa this is the movie the series needed, even if it's not an enjoyable watch. The entire series needed to be taken down a peg or two and that's what this movie does.

[Neon Ignition]

Rocky V has become retrospectively more interesting too because the plot was so disliked and yet it's kind of the same arc as the Creed films to a fair extent which shows that the idea of moving Rocky into the Mickey role was never really the issue, it was just the delivery. In the end the film covers the same beats as the later films but in a way that is point for point lesser than them but there's almost a nod of respect that Stallone was even able to set the R3/4 era ego aside to make a film like Rocky V when the easy option would have been to just do another entry the same.

[Dogg Thang]

it was just the delivery

Partly. I think it's a miserable watch and that really goes against it. But I also think some of that is the hard comedown from the energy, positivity and stupidity of Rocky IV. Rocky IV is the drunken night out, dancing on the tables, cheating on your wife and Rocky V is the worst hangover you have ever had.

I think you have to get through the hangover though so you're in the right frame of mind for what comes next.

Edit: I am saying far too much about my life in here.

[Asura]

Rocky IV is the drunken night out, dancing on the tables,

setting off fireworks, winning 10 million in vegas and losing it all to a group of gunrunners, breaking the land-speed record on a razor scooter, connecting a USB port in one go without looking, having a threesome with Miss World and Mr Universe, blowing up the sun