by erin thursby scopes1925@msn.com
A- Rated PG13 103 min.
Grief, loss and aging add new layers to the Rocky franchise. It’s a welcome jumble of nostalgia, with old themes made new by means of the issue of age thrown into the mix.
What affect does age have on our identity? Are we defined by the skin we’re in, or the stories we tell about our younger selves? The character of Rocky has always felt the need to prove himself to the world. This time he wants to prove to himself that his heart and his identity are still intact. As always, it leads to the ring.
Adrian, that muse of the boxing ring, has died, leaving Rocky grief-stricken and living with the past. Rocky steps back into the ring to prove to himself that he can get up again from the worst blow life has dealt him, his wife’s death.
The world changes and Rocky hasn’t exactly been in the current world for a long time. He spends all his time focused on his yesterdays and doesn’t live in the present. Rocky drags Paulie with him to all the places that resonate with memories of Adrian. But Paulie can no longer “live backwards” as he believes Rocky is doing. Paulie’s plea to Rocky, as Paulie abandons him to the vacant lots of old memories, seems to have some effect as Rocky slowly begins to live in the present.
Rocky starts living in the present by befriending “Little Marie,” (Geraldine Hughes) who’s all grown up with a kid of her own. Marie appeared as a delinquent girl in the first movie who cursed Rocky out after he walked her home. She thanks him for his intervention thirty years ago. Rocky looks to be a part of her and her son’s life. The relationship between the two isn’t sexual. Most movies ignore the fact that the leading man is at least twenty years older than the leading lady. In this case, Rocky’s age is the focus. A romance between the two would have been disingenuous.
Rocky owns a restaurant, where he regales patrons with old stories of his fights. In the kitchen, Mexicans fix Italian meals. Rocky lets Spider Rico (Pedro Lovell), a man he once KO’ed eat for free in the restaurant. When he befriends Marie and her son, Steps, he gives them jobs to help them.
Meanwhile, Mason “The Line” Dixon (Antonio Tarver) is at the top of the heavyweight food chain, but he’s dissatisfied because his journey to the top has been so easy. Apparently, none of the opponents he’s faced have ever really challenged him. Because of his perfect record, fans aren’t eager to watch him fight. The outcome is already a given. Sportscasters, looking for a new angle in the heavy-weight boxing world, show a clip of a virtual fight, in which Rocky (at his prime) is pitted against Dixon. The skills and moves of each boxer are entered into the simulation. For the first time in his career, albeit in a virtual ring, Dixon loses. The virtual fight sparks such an interest that Dixon’s promoters decide that they can make an enormous profit by pitting the two against each other in real life. Dixon is less than enthusiastic about the idea. If he wins against Rocky, he’ll be seen as a heartless boxer beating on an icon who just doesn’t have it anymore. If Dixon loses, he’s lost against a has-been. The promoters push and Dixon gives in. He doesn’t expect the fight he’s been looking for, the fight that challenges him, that pushes his limits.
Rocky’s son, Robert (Milo Ventimiglia) has his own problems and angst, living in his father’s shadow even though he’s gone into a profession as far away from boxing as possible: he’s an accountant. Robert comes across as less of a man than his father, not because he’s an accountant, but because he has less heart than his father. Robert hates living in his father’s shadow and gets angry when his father decides to do an exhibition bout with Mason Dixon. Robert and Rocky do reconcile, but only after Rocky tells him he hasn’t been living a genuine life (with fewer vocabulary words, of course).
What would a Rocky movie be without the obligatory training montage? Rocky runs up the steps again, this time with his adopted dog, Punchy, who is also dressed in matching grey sweats. A dog in a matching outfit is generally smarmy, but with a guy as big as Stallone, the effect is endearing because of the contrast. Smartly, they keep the score of the old movies, going with what works.
Rocky remains the great American hero, symbolizing what we value most in our heroes: he’s wise, not intelligent, looking at life’s problems with the logic of the heart rather than the logic of the mind. If this is the end of the Rocky franchise, then it ended on the best note possible.
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