Rocky Forever!

I know, I know. The whole Rocky thing is way past its prime. And many people point to how the original wasn't so great anyway. It was too much of a formula. We have seen it all before.
Yet, I have to disagree. I will even go out on a limb and say that the Rocky series is one of the best movie series of all. It is one of the best conceived and written, and one of the best filmed. So if you agree with me but have been remaining silent, now you can relax. You were on the right track.
I mean let's take a look at the original Rocky. Yes, it was predictable. Yes, I know that Rocky was a silly stereotype. Yet, in the fight at the end of the movie, who did not feel the excitement. Who did not deeply desire that Rocky triumph? We all knew that he couldn't. The movie kept hinting and hinting that there was no way Rocky could beat Apollo. Just to get the chance was a huge lucky strike for Rocky. We all knew he was going down, yet we all secretly hoped he wouldn't. Why?
Maybe it's because there is a bit of Rocky in all of us. We all see ourselves as the hard workers just hoping for a lucky break to prove that we are the best in the world. We labor in our pursuits, whether we are athletes competing for the Gold, businessmen trying to hit that one big deal, or even writers hoping to get the one shot to show the world what we are capable of.
Rocky lets us all believe that this is possible. We live through him and ignore the rougher aspects of his character, just because we all have rougher aspects that we would rather not admit. At the end of the day, it is all of us who are out there in the ring with Rocky, getting pummeled but still looking for the one big break.
Enjoy all the Rocky movies. There is nothing in them to be ashamed of. In fact, we can all be quite proud that eventually, Rocky triumphs as we all will one day.