Rocky

In the past several months, I’ve seen a couple of movies that were not to my liking. The Fountain heads that list. The reviews said it’s about a love story that spans one thousand years. Tom didn’t read the reviews but saw a preview. He thought it was about time travel and that interested him. It was just weird and I didn’t enjoy it at all. Maybe I’m not intelligent enough to get the symbolism in the movie. All I know was that I left dissatisfied.

The Good Shepherd was not what it was advertised to be. The previews gave the impression it was a story about the beginnings of the CIA. I felt it was more of an anti-American movie than anything else. The main character exhibited none. He was not a good husband or father. He sacrificed his family for his job. I don’t particularly enjoy movies where there are no clear good or bad guys.

The other night I went on a date with Tom and we saw Rocky Balboa. We had seen the very first Rocky movie together (I’m really aging myself, I know). I liked the first Rocky movie. It was a feel good movie that made you cheer for the underdog. It was a movie about an ordinary man reaching for his dream and not quitting. The subsequent Rocky movies after the first two however, exhibited plain silliness. Like most movie sequences there comes a time when you say, “They should have stopped after that last one.” Case in point Godfather III. I could write a whole blog article on how bad this was. There are always exceptions - Godfather II for example. I loved the second Godfather movie better than the first.

Since we had seen the first one together, it seemed fitting to see what I believe is the final one together. I was not expecting much so I was pleasantly surprised. It was well done along the feel of the original Rocky. I thought Sylvester Stallone ended well. It conveyed the power of hope and not giving up. He made up for the silliness in between. Do keep in mind this Rocky not Shakespeare. It had the classic training scene and some footage from the first movie. I don’t to go into detail, but I would recommend this movie if you liked the first one.

There was one line from the movie that I really liked. Before the big fight someone said to Rocky, “Tomorrow night they are going to find out that the last thing to age on someone is their heart.” Hope is a powerful weapon in our arsenal. When hope is missing everything seems to be bleak, but with hope you can forge through anything.

Proverbs 13:12 - Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life.

I love it when God can speak to me through ordinary things like a movie.

© Nadine Z. 2006