Rocky Balboa

I love the Rocky movies. I love them so much that I saw Rocky V in the theater twice. The original Rocky, along with The Goonies and South Park: Bigger, Longer and Uncut, is my all-time favorite movie. And so I have been excited about the prospect of Rocky Balboa, the new Rocky movie which comes to theaters on December 22.

Until I watched the trailer On Demand.

I knew a few things about the movie from reading a little online: I knew that Adrian wouldn't be a part of it (dead) and I knew that it would revolve around a boxer named Mason "The Line" Dixon. And I knew that Sly Stallone had said this would be a different Rocky, and a different type of movie, than we have come to expect--that Rocky would be old and broken down (although he was those things in Rocky V as well). In watching the trailer, it now appears that Rocky, old and broken down, decides he wants to fight again. Just small fights, just to have something to do. At about the same time an ESPN-type channel decides to run a simulation to determine which boxer, in his prime, would be world champion. And they decide it would be Rocky over current champion Mason "The Line" Dixon.

I think we all know where this one is going, right? For some reason that I'm sure the movie won't be able to explain, Rocky decides to fight The Line in some sort of exhibition. And he trains. But this time the training is hard because he has things like calcium in his joints.

As much as I love Rocky, I just don't know about this. A 60 year old man fighting a boxer in his prime? The same 60 year old man who couldn't fight in Rocky V because he had taken too many blows to the head and might become brain-damaged? It just doesn't make sense. I was looking forward to the gritty look at what happens to someone who has it all, loses it, and has to deal with the concept of growing old alone. That seemed to be the story Stallone was promising in interviews about this movie. But based on the preview, it isn't what we'll be getting.

Of course, you know where I'll be on December 22.