Artificial Cheese

Your months of wait are over, its time for another Sunday Night Showdown!

If you’ve read one of my previous Sunday Night Showdowns you’ll know that I like to watch two movies at a time. This gives me a good opportunity to compare and contrast the two productions in unusual ways.

In the left corner: weighing in at 217 lbs is Rocky Balboa, Sylvester Stallone’s extended on-screen apology for the atrocity that was Rocky V. Aside from Star Wars episode 3, this has to be the most anticipated sixth-in-a-series movie ever released. Over-the-top Rocky Balboa is tormented by the loss of his wife, Adrian, and finds himself telling old fight stories to customer’s at his appropriately named restaurant, Adrian’s. When he realizes that he is totally consumed with his yearning for a past life, he decides to start a training montage and revisit the fighting stage one more time. The jist of the movie can be summed up in one line that Sylvester Stallone utters before his fight with Antonio Tarver; “It ain’t ovuh till it’s ovuh.” Following an inspiring and bloody fight, it was over.

In the blue corner, weighing in at 8 lbs and 4 ounces we have Children of Men, a ‘world gone wrong’ thriller with stunning camera work. The movie follows an activist-turned-beaurocrat, played by Clive Owen, 20 years after humans suddenly became infertile. Clive is thurst back into his life as a troublemaking activist when he is asked to do a favor for his woman-stayed-activist ex-wife. One thing leads to another and suddenly he is running from those who wanted his help in an attempt to save the only pregnant woman in the world from twisted immigration rules and homocidal protesters.

The movies that are mentioned here are very different. Perhaps not as different as Waist Deep and Everything is Illuminated, but not similar enough to see any obvious parallels. Both leading men in these stories are driven hard by happy memories of their earlier lives. In the case of Clive Owen, he half-willingly throws away his boring life as a successful paper-pusher to become a born again activist when his ex-wife calls for his aid. Rocky just wants to run up stairs and hit someone again. In either case, its a return to how things used to be to conquer old demons.

The most poetic difference between these movies lies with the main goal and impact both men have on their surroundings. Rocky leaves a path of mending and healing through punching and violence. Through his inspiring efforts, he changes his son’s whiny outlook on life and even inspires some heart in the man that is trying to punch him in the face. Clive Owen, on the other hand, leaves a path of death and destruction in his wake as he tries to heal the world through creation. Everywhere he goes he ends up killing the people he loves or blowing up people he doesn’t really know that well, so he can save a woman that can save the world in turn.

If you’re wondering which movie I thought was better, than you’ve been reading all this time just to be disappointed. I have to admit that I am a closet Rocky fan. I love those movies. I don’t care how many times I hear that Rocky music during a training montage, it gets me fired up. But just like my fellow Rocky fans, Rocky V left a horrible taste in my mouth. Rocky IV was bad but forgivable; Rocky V was just a slap in the face to those looking for something to remember. When I first heard that a new Rocky movie was in production, I was giddy like a little school girl. After a few months, however, I was not looking forward to another step in the downward regression of Rocky movies.

Rocky Balboa turned out to be much better than I anticipated. The entire movie was filled with subtleties and a very appropriate approach to the story. At times it was almost like Sylvester Stallone himself was acting in the movie, trying to attone for the injustice that was Rocky V. I’m sure he has had the ugliness of Rocky V sitting inside of him for the past decade and he finally punched it out all over Antonio Tarver’s face.

Thats not to say that it was better than Children of Men. I was also looking forward to this movie for quite some time, partly because of my man-crush on Clive Owen, and partly because of the techniques being implemented to shoot the movie. The single-shot scenes had me very interested, and the story wasn’t too shabby either. The movie did not meet my high expectations, but it was my own fault for letting those expectations simmer until the movie was released on DVD.

I would strongly recommend Rocky Balboa to any Rocky fan, it is a very soothing and conclusive movie experience. If you’ve seen Rocky V, then consider Rocky Balboa your long awaited antidote. The elderly will love this movie because it is an inspiring movie of how an old Italian man can still beat up a big muscular black man. If you’re not a fan of the original Rocky or Rocky II, you probably want to avoid this movie.

Children of Men is not for everyone either. The character development is a bit shady, the story is very straightforward, and the movie hinges its quality on extremely subtle references and internal cross-references that almost no one but the director will pick up. But I have to say that the single shot scenes really added to the gritty feel of the movie, and they could be reason alone for anyone to watch this movie.