Rocky Critical Analysis - Movie Review Example

The movie revolves around Balboa who is a starting boxer and has no direction in life. He collects loans for a certain shark and also fights in the town's shady clubs where he is lowly paid. His success begins when a heavyweight champion Creed, selects him to be his opponent in a fight where Balboa gets a chance to prove that he is not worthless (Didinger, Glen, & Gene, 14-16). This is because he gets mocked a lot when he fights at the clubs. He loses the match but this does not deter him from trying more. Thus, he is not successful in job searching, which makes him decide to stick to boxing. While training under Mickey he improves his skills to a better boxer.

Meanwhile, his opponent at the first match Creed is criticized by his fans. He is pressured to overcome his fight with Balboa which makes him taunt Rocky publicly. During their fifteenth round, Balboa knocks Creed and this makes him get declared heavyweight champion for the first time (Didinger, Glen, & Gene, 16). This makes Rocky famous and he appears in several television advertisements as well as programs. After the fight what follows is a stream of wins making him more famous than his earlier opponent. While preparing to retire from boxing, he is publicly challenged by the number one contender James “Clubber” Lang. This time round Rocky is not fit to fight as his trainer dies of a heart attack during their second round where he loses to Lang. Surprisingly, Rocky’s old rival Creed becomes his trainer and during the third round, he knocks Lang out.

Another contender Ivan Drago from USSR challenges him to an exhibition match that does not take place. Instead, they fight on Christmas day and rocky knocks him out some seconds into the final round. After this fight, Balboa gets diagnosed with brain damage which makes him retire from fights. To add to this, he is bankrupt due to poor accounting of his fortune. This forces his family to return to their earlier neighborhood. His son follows in his footsteps in the ring together with his friend Tommy (Didinger, Glen, & Gene, 17-20). The movie ends with both Rocky junior and Tommy ending their grudge and reconciling while Balboa visits his wife’s grave.

The main character is Rocky Balboa who starts from the ground to become a heavyweight champion of the world. He marries Adrian Pennino whom he had courted for a long unsuccessfully. His wife Adrian is the main female character in the movie which inspires him to keep fighting. We see a scene where even after Rocky loses a match to Creed, he and Adrian embrace one another and declare their love (Didinger, Glen, & Gene, 17-19).  He is trained by Mickey who used to mock him in the clubs when he performed the fights. After the death of Mickey, Rocky is trained by his former opponent Creed where he outboxes Lang. Also, he knocks out another contender Drago before he retires. After Rocky is bankrupt, Adrian returns to her former work at a pet store.