Astonishingly way back 39 years ago in 1976, a young Sylvester Stallone, who wrote the screenplay for a film and a character that would forever becomes etched in cinematic folklore, burst onto our screens as Rocky Balboa - 'The Italian Stallion'. He was a down at heel no hope dead end lunk of wannabe Boxer from the poorer side of Philadelphia who against all the odds went onto to a world championship bout against Apollo Creed (Carl Weathers). That film won three Academy Awards including Best Picture and Best Directing for John Avildsen, and was nominated for a further seven awards including Best Actor and Best Writing for Stallone. It picked up another sixteen award wins and another fourteen nominations and propelled Stallone to super stardom in the years that followed. Subsequently there have been further Rocky films in 1979, 1982, 1985, 1990 and 'Rocky Balboa' in 2006. Those six films had a combined production budget of just US$119M and all up grossed US$1.27B. In the meantime and sticking with the pugilist theme, Stallone made 'Grudge Match' in 2013 with Robert De Niro and in 1978, 'Paradise Alley' - Stallone's Directorial debut, albeit about wrestling, but, still keeping it in the ring!
Our film opens in 1998 in a juvenile correctional facility where a young teenage black kid is beating up another. He is separated from the melee and confined. He is then visited by Mary Anne Creed (Phylicia Rashad) - Apollo Creed's widow, but the young lad has no idea who she is, because this young lad never knew his father and has been in and out of foster care all his young life. Until now, when Mary Anne agrees to take him in. We then fast forward to 2015, and this young lad Adonis 'Donnie' Johnson (Michael B. Jordan) has grown up into a fine figure of a man who works in a securities firm and is poised for promotion. But, he has fighting in his veins and a hunger in his heart for the ring and takes fights where he can get them, knowing that this is what he wants to do. So he quits his job with respectable prospects much to Mary Anne's chagrin and he leaves for Philadelphia to make a name for himself.
By now he has grown up with the knowledge of his father Apollo Creed (Carl Weathers) who we see only in archive footage when Adonis checks out the former heavyweight champion of the world on YouTube footage. This though prompts him to track down Rocky Balboa (Sylvester Stallone) who he knows that whilst they were fierce adversaries in the ring they were good friends out of it. Rocky is still running his Italian restaurant named after his deceased wife, Adrian, where Adonis and Rocky meet for the first time. Here Adonis tells his story and how he comes to be on Rocky's doorstep seeking a trainer and a mentor, and who better than 'The Italian Stallion' himself - former world champion and long term friend of his father.
Rocky is unsure, and looking every one of his ageing years, and suffering the effects of brain trauma, he is no longer the man he was although he still has the fire in his belly, and feels a connection and a responsibility to this young Boxer, so after a few days he reluctantly agrees. What follows of course is a series of training montages in and out of the ring tracing many familiar steps seen in previous Rocky films, and especially the first instalments as a nod to Mickey Goldmill (Burgess Meredith), Rocky's former, and long term passed, trainer. Even Mickey's former gym still exists as a monument to Rocky Balboa albeit now expanded and modernised, and of course under new ownership.
Along the way Adonis, having moved out of his temporary digs into Rocky's modest home, hooks up with Bianca (Tessa Thompson) a singer/songwriter on the club circuit and soon the two become an item. With plenty of training going on, a love interest on the side and Rocky being diagnosed with early cancer onset, Adonis is torn between getting in the ring for a title fight and getting Rocky back to health and fighting his cancer diagnosis with chemotherapy, which he is reluctant to do as it served no purpose for Adrian who died from ovarian cancer years before.
With this going on Rocky receives a phone call from the manager of 'Pretty' Ricky Conlon (Tony Bellew) - a Liverpool prizefighter and existing World Light Heavyweight Champion with the offer of a title bout in Liverpool, England at Everton Football Stadium. Time is running out for Conlon as he is looking down the barrel of a prison sentence and so this is likely to be the last bout of his career, so for him it's shit or bust! For Adonis, it is the chance to step out of his fathers shadow (which the world now knows about) and stand up and be counted on his own merits as a Boxer.
Going into the championship bout Adonis is clearly the underdog (as Rocky was originally in his first fight against Apollo) and expected to go down against Conlon in the first couple of rounds. Conlon is the cock sure champion and determined to mince his aspiring opponent into the mat. With Rocky in his corner giving him all the motivation he needs, Adonis sporting his fathers trademark shorts, Bianca ringside and Mary Anne at home watching on the big screen wine glass in hand and the rounds notching up toward 12, you just know that we have a repeat of that legendary Rocky/Apollo fight unfolding as it did then 40 years ago. Whilst the fight goes the distance, you'll have to watch for yourself to see who wins the night, and what becomes of the fighter and his trainer/mentor in the closing scene that once again nods back to those earlier films.
I enjoyed this film and it is a fitting continuation of the Rocky mythology that sees another chapter in the great Boxer's life whilst taking the franchise off in a new direction too. It is not up there with the 1976 film which for me will always be one of the all time classic boxing films up there with 'Raging Bull', but is a very respectable offering in the Rocky canon. It has all the usual touchstones of a Rocky film but these are not out of place and are well handled, and many of those characters and places from the previous four decades of Rocky history are referenced to maintain the story arc. There are also many similarities which are evident throughout, and as seen replicated too in 'Southpaw' earlier this year. Seeing Rocky ageing and battling the effects of chemotherapy treatment provide for some poignant moments, and although his resolve shines through despite his failing health, what this will mean for a further film, and how his story will be handled, remains to be seen.Worth the price of your ringside seat for sure.
-Steve, at Odeon Online-
