I haven’t seen any of the Rocky films. There. I said it. So that may have influenced my relatively negative take on the movie. I am, however, familiar enough with the story line to understand the references that were packed into this newest addition to the series. In the end, I think that Adonis was hard for me to see as a protagonist for one reason in particular.

The movie started off really well,  I thought. I liked the idea of Adonis becoming a fighting prodigy not only because of his father but because of his upbringing in juvenile detention facilities as well. I thought it showed the struggle involved in his decision to become a fighter. He left his mother and a comfortable lifestyle in pursuit of something dangerous yet necessary. I liked that. But then he met Bianca. After that, my opinion of Donnie went downhill. I think it’s because of the amount of times he had to go back to her apologizing for a number of things he did. Then their resulting interactions made it even worse. It kind of made him seem immature to me, which created a huge disconnect with his upbringing that would’ve lent itself to a much more hardened character. I think that for that reason I also saw the romantic side of the movie as kind of a detour. I was much much more interested and invested in the training and nuanced relationship to Rocky.

After typing this all out, I feel like I sound somewhat heartless or inconsiderate… But I really do think that the acting on Stallone’s part (which I absolutely loved) as well as Adonis’ background made the immature romantic relationship seem out of place to me. In the end, maybe I would have preferred to see this movie as a drama. But then that wouldn’t exactly fit in with the Rocky series.

So ultimately I guess I should sit down and dedicate a solid 24 hours to watching the entire Rocky series with occasional breaks and then write another post afterward. Stay tuned.