Can you believe that Sylvester Stallone is currently a
frontrunner to win an Oscar, roll that thought around in your head and then try
to remember when we still thought that was impossible? Not only that, but it’s
for a role that he first played forty years ago, and six other times as well.
Has that ever happened in Oscar history before? It’s not rhetorical I honestly
don’t know, I can’t be bothered to research it, I assume it is. But regardless,
this seems like the ideal opportunity to look back on those six previous
efforts, to revisit the epic saga of the Italian Stallion.
In 1976 ‘Rocky’ hit theatres and was not the smash hit it is
regarded as today. While many credible reviewers praised the film, several were
dismissive of it. After reviewing it as impartially as I can, I’m still in the
former side of the argument. ‘Rocky’ is the definitive underdog story, and even
though it made training montages and boxing ring showdowns famous, I’m always
surprised by the amount of humanity and warmth within Stallone’s script, how it
chooses to focus so primarily on the intimate moments rather than big
spectacle. One tiny aspect of the film that continues to stun me to this day
(and seems to perfectly personify my earlier remark) is the last few seconds,
where the actual announcement of who wins the boxing match is almost shoved
aside in favour of Adrian’s declaration of love, it’s barely audible and rather
abrupt, almost anticlimactic. That is so significant because ultimately it sums
up why ‘Rocky’ works so brilliantly, Balboa only loses in the literal sense of
the word. He has triumphed as a person more than anyone could triumph as a
fighter.
Though we may think of Stallone’s Oscar contention as
laughable, when you re-watch that first ‘Rocky’ it suddenly becomes incredibly plausible.
He brings such a mystical quality to the role, embodying a sense of durability,
but also vulnerability. Some went as far to say that he was reminiscent of a
young Marlon Brando, but he carries an almost larger than life quality to him,
it allows the prospect of Rocky undertaking this challenge to be more
believable and it makes it all the more poignant when he opens up emotionally.
Then there’s the factor of just how uplifting the movie is, and one can never underestimate
that quality in a movie.
So rather surprisingly, ‘Rocky’ went on to win Best Picture at
the Oscars that year (which I’m fine with) as well as Best Director (which I
may take issue with as John Avildsen’s directing was rather uninspired and
nearly downplays the emotions of certain scenes, especially in comparison to Scorsese’s
‘Taxi Driver’ and Lumet’s ‘Network’ that were also nominated). The only major
player who didn’t bag an award was Sly himself, who received two nominations
for writing and acting, but neither resulted in a win.
So it’s little wonder that he chose the helm the next
instalment ‘Rocky 2’. At the very least it retains that sense of the underdog,
rarely making its title character too powerful and even in the final round it
seeks to establish how Rocky himself still has a lot to prove to the eyes of
the world. On the one hand I can’t help but think it undoes a little bit of
what the first one did, in the sense that winning never really mattered, what
counted was that Rocky went into the ring with everything he had, and left with
so much more, ‘Rocky 2’ meanwhile takes that concept but inject a literal win
at the end and ultimately the end result is something quite familiar, if not
equally well made.
‘Rocky 3’ retains those essential qualities yet again in
many respects. Credit to this series for realising very quickly that once Rocky
becomes more than an underdog going into that final fight, then he’s already
lost as far as the audience is concerned. So it places Rocky on a pedestal only
to knock him off of it in rather spectacular fashion. The problem comes from
the fact that so many of these elements sound fine on paper, but are turned up
to the maximum amount of 1980s nostalgia with multiple montages, Eye of the
Tiger, Mr T and Hulk Hogan. So in retrospect, it’s essentially another re-tread
with some differing elements that mean it lacks the humble nature of that first
film.
Can you believe we’re only halfway through? ‘Rocky4’ is
perhaps the epitome of 1980s nostalgia. On the one hand it once again retraces
the steps of the last film (first fight, mentor dies, sad Rocky, training
montage, final fight, rousing speech, end) but once again shifts the elements enough
to keep you interested. The film really feels like it brushes over too many
potential emotional scenes like Apollo’s death, and then Rocky choosing to
fight the monster that is Ivan Drago, the prospect of being used as a political
tool more than a fighter, the list goes on. Talk about not overpowering Rocky,
by the end of the film he literally ends the Cold War (here’s hoping that
Stallone’s Oscar acceptance speech brings about world peace).
‘Rocky 5’ is where things get ridiculous … more so …. again. It made the classic mistake of messing
with the established formula to an extent where it was almost unrecognisable as
a ‘Rocky’ movie. It also isn’t that uplifting, so instead you just end up with
the ridiculous 1980s clichés, except they’re a decade late by this point. The
whole film is odd in its structure as it feels as if meatier sections are over
in a minute, and moments that should have been over in seconds are still going
several minutes later (how long does it take for Rocky’s kid to deal with
bullies). There seems to be a strange build up towards killing Rocky, with his
injuries and the ironic nature of his own creation being the cause of it (I’m
not saying I wanted Rocky to die, especially in retrospect) but then they don’t
follow through with it, and without any dramatic punch you’re left with a
rather hollow conclusion, in which Rocky, despite being retired from boxing and
engaging in a street brawl with a young boxer in his prime, is still the best
and acknowledges that, the end.
It also feels ridiculously unnecessary. At least the other
all develop the story, so if you wanted to catch up for ‘Creed’, Part 1 is the
origin, Part 2 establishes his victory, Part 3 is his friendship with Apollo,
Part 4 highlights Apollo’s death, but what about 5?
That is probably the main motivation behind ‘Rocky Balboa’.
It may be slightly implausible that anyone would want to stage a match with a
sixty year old boxer, but frankly who cares? It gave Stallone an opportunity to
bow out the character of Rocky as the central character of the film. ‘Creed’
may revive him but only as the supporting role, as the star of the show, this
is ‘Rocky’s’ last bow. It also gets a lot of my respect for focussing much less
on spectacle and using the fighting as a secondary feature to the emotion. Sometimes
it verges on being more of a homage than a singular film, but I can forgive it,
mostly.
So can ‘Creed’ continue this legacy, foe better or worse?
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