Rocky Balboa

With the recent passing of Sage Stallone, Sylvester Stallone's son, I decided to review the last Rocky movie, Rocky Balboa.  

Rocky is a movie character who is so classic Sylvester Stallone was inducted into the Boxing Hall of Fame for his film series.  Rocky Balboa picks up many years later.  Time has not been kind to Rocky, his wife passed away, his son blows him off constantly, and all of his winnings from boxing are long gone.  But on the bright side he does enjoy daily life, even if it is lonely.  Rocky has a restaurant he owns that keeps him busy and has a few customers from the old days who hang out there.

Everything changes when there is a computer simulation comparing old vs new fighter in their primes.  Rocky vs Mason "The Line" Dixon (the current undefeated heavyweight champion).  In the simulation Rocky wins their match by KO which makes Dixon feel disrespected.  Rocky has also made some new friends and decides to box again.  He isn't looking for anything big, just some local fight, but of course promoters see a chance to make some money so they talk Rocky into taking a fight against the champ.

Even though Rocky movies take place in the world of boxing, boxing isn't really what they are about.  Rocky is about the underdog, the everyman, the average Joe, who becomes more than anything thinks he can.  He doesn't do this for the fame or money, or even to impress anyone, it's for himself.  It's what he loves to do.  The constant training, the striving to be the best you can be, to push yourself beyond what you are supposed to be able to do.  

Rocky has a talk with his son, who has become an office drone with no self-worth and also attempts to talk Rocky out of fighting again.  Of course someone could understand his son's thoughts, he doesn't want his father to get hurt, but that isn't his motivation.  He doesn't want his dad to fight because he has no faith in him (projecting his own fears on his Rocky) and doesn't want to get embarrassed when Rocky is smashed.  The speech Rocky gives him is a great motivational speech for anyone.

Needed to say, Rocky and his son grow close again and he trains hard and puts up a fight no one expected from him.  It's a great film and shows even when things are bad, even if you are old, it's never to late to chase your dreams and do what you want to do.  Like Rocky says, it's not about how hard you can hit, it's about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward.