Blind Spot Review: Rocky (1976)

Ah, it feels good to be back on the Blind Spot wagon! Earlier this month, Jenna and I watched Creed, and although we really enjoyed it, we both agreed we’d have probably found it better if we had any knowledge of the Rocky movies. So that’s how the original ended up on our Blind Spot list! If you fancy reading an abysmal attempt at us both trying to understand how boxing even works, check out our review of Creed here.

Rocky (1976) is the story of Rocky Balboa (Sylvester Stallone), a struggling boxer who works as a debt collector by day. When the undefeated heavyweight champion Apollo Creed (Carl Weathers) looks to set up an exhibition match to give a newcomer a chance at fighting him, Rocky, the Italian Stallion is chosen, and thus begins Rocky’s training and the wedding march ;-)

I’m just going to go straight out and say it. I wasn’t expecting to love this movie. I wanted to watch it, don’t get me wrong, especially after watching Creed, but all I was hoping to gain from it was an understanding of the story. I was engrossed from the first few minutes, and was kind of gutted when it ended, which is unusual for me, 2 hours is normally the point that I start to give up.

Rocky is such a loveable character! This is a guy who goes from using intimidation tactics to collect debts to dropping by a pet store just for the chance to spend a few minutes with the girl who’s captured his heart. What a guy!  I didn't expect Rocky to be the character he was, i expected this big ol' hardman that never lets up so to see him fall in love and be all romantic was a pleasant surprise.

Watching Rocky and Adrian’s (Talia Shire) relationship grow was definitely a highlight for me. It reminded me so much of Adonis and Bianca's relationship in Creed, they've obviously really taken note from Rocky when making Creed.  A completely clueless Rocky asking Adrian’s brother what she liked to do, and then spending $10 for just 10 minutes on the ice rink with her just melted my heart. I even spotted the line ‘Why do I fight? Because I can’t sing and dance…’ which was on Adonis’ shirt in Creed! Mega proud of myself there.  

Like Allie, I didn't think I would be bothered by this movie but I really did love it.  I got very excited when I saw the 'Rocky' steps and even sent a photo to Allie.  In all honesty, I thought it would have ruined this film watching Creed first it had the same impact as if i had watched them the right way round.  I got so excited when I saw places in this that had been featured in Creed like Mighty Micks Gym.  I much prefer Stallone back in the day when I can understand what the heck he is saying and really loved the build up to the fight, I was adamant I knew what the outcome would be....I was wrong!

Then of course we had the famous music startup (which Jenna swears sounds like the wedding march, still does!) followed by Rocky running up the stairs which was nothing short of awesome. I can really see now why this is such an iconic movie! I was told it would really gear me up for going to the gym but I was in my pajamas finishing off a tub of chocolates from Christmas at the time so I can’t really comment on that.  I have been tempted to go to the gym of late, I didn't go after this however, I sat and ate a monster roast dinner! oops!

And then of course we had the final fight. Some of the tension was taken away from me because I knew the outcome, but when you watch a movie 40 years after it was released, I think you lose the right to scream ‘spoiler alert’ at someone!  Can you believe I didn't know how it ended, the movie has been out since before I was born and I have never heard a spoiler?!

I’m torn now between saving Rocky II for next year’s Blind Spot or just watching it next weekend…!  

Great start to the Blind Spot challenge, here's hoping the other 11 are as good!

Review: Creed (2015)

Jenna! I can’t believe you’re leaving me to start off this monstrosity of a post. I think by this point in our blogging adventure, it’s expected of me to have not watched an all time classic movie, but you?! Let’s just get this out of the way. Neither of us have ever watched a Rocky movie. Nor do we have much knowledge about boxing in general. So if you’re even still reading at this point, you’re probably wondering why on earth we even watched Creed. But it’s tipped for awards, and we’re trying to watch all the big awards movies, so we gave Creed a shot together!  In our defence we have Rocky on our Blind Spot list for this year and we are kicking it off with that one in January but yes it is true we have not seen a Rocky film between us and I think in watching Creed we may have inadvertently 'spoilered' ourselves. 

So, as far as I understand, Creed is the story of Apollo Creed’s son, Adonis (Michael B. Jordan) as he follows his father’s footsteps in becoming a boxing champion. To help him on his way he hunts down retired Rocky Balboa himself (Sylvester Stallone) who eventually agrees to mentor him.  Not that we could understand what he was saying!

For the record, this was so much fun to watch together, as we shared what little we knew about the Rocky series. I think everything we know can be summed up like this:

- There are some steps that Rocky ran up in the originals. They didn’t actually look that difficult, but then neither of us have tried.

- I think Rocky had a love interest called Adrian. Also pretty sure there’s a moment where we cries ‘ADRIAAAAN’. I don’t do a very good Stallone impression.

- According to Jenna, the famous Rocky music sounds a lot like the traditional wedding march. haha! OK play this and listen to the first part of this and tell me it doesn't sound like the wedding march......

It doesn't sound like the wedding march, and now you're going nowhere near any of my CDs at the wedding in May!

Moving swiftly on…

I thought Michael B. Jordan was absolutely perfect for this role! He’s everything I imagined a young boxer to be. He was confident, and a little arrogant, but he oozed so much charm at the same time. It was really sweet watching him in the early stages of his relationship with Bianca (Tessa Thompson) and I can’t wait to see more of him in the future.
I felt like we may have ruined this film for ourselves because I get the feeling nostalgia goes a long way with this one, that being said I did really enjoy the boxing scenes (it also reminded me that I forgot to review Southpaw!).  Michael B. Jordan was the perfect choice for Adonis, he was great and i'm so glad hes brought it back after the disaster that was Fantastic Four.

One thing I will rave about are the boxing scenes themselves. They were intense! Especially the final scene, which I of course won’t ruin. Jenna and I were literally shouting and cheering at the TV at that point, acting as referees. If you love the sport, don’t ever watch it with us. Seriously. Our favourite parts are the ‘hug it out’ moments as we call them!  I was scaring the bejesus out of the cats with my impressive boxing moves and every time the boxers 'hugged' we put on our rugged manly voices to 'yeah yeah hug it out' - I think we might actually be insane but its the most fun I've had watching a movie in a long time!  Can anyone actually explain why they hug?!

I just feel that my lack of knowledge/interest in boxing, coupled with the sad fact that I’ve never watched a Rocky movie ultimately hindered my enjoyment of the movie as a whole. I can certainly appreciate it for what it is, but it felt too long to me.

It did seem to go on a bit and I don't usually mind long films, a lot of the scenes just seemed a little dragged out where they could have been shorter but overall an entertaining watch that i'm guessing fans of the franchise will love.