On R List of Movie Reviews

(For optimum viewing, adjust the zoom level of your browser to 125%.)


Rocky Balboa (2006)

Rate: 4
Viewed: 5/08, 8/11, 10/20

Rocky6
5/08: Much better than I anticipated, I thought Rocky Balboa was going to be the worst movie of the series, but lo and behold, Rocky is back by charming his way.

I have not had so much fun in a while and love the whole package. What Sylvester Stallone brought to the table is old memories and characters. At the same time, he merges the past with the present, showing no hard feelings or bitterness about how things have turned out. Mature by now, Sylvester Stallone has a different perspective. The best part...well, there are many of them, but it's the ending which shows how much Rocky doesn't care about the fight result but winning the true battle.

The editing is good, unlike the crap I've been seeing nowadays, and has an interesting back-and-forth of what's currently happening and the fight. Sylvester Stallone (whose best acting scene is when he gave the speech to his son before going back to the restaurant) is phenomenal, and it's a role that he was born to play. Everybody else is more or less okay. It's too bad about not seeing Talia Shire again. Actually, her death contributes a great deal to the story, making it work.

Another aspect I like is how Sylvester Stallone combined the juvenile mentality of the god-awful sports channel ESPN and the need for Rocky to come back for another fight when he demonstrated severe brain damage in the previous sequel. Mike Tyson trash-talking with the current champion reminds me of the post-conference melee when he yelled at Lennox Lewis, "You're scared coward, you're not man enough to fuck with me."

All in all, despite the awful rap song during Mason Dixon's entrance, Rocky Balboa is a feel-good movie that brings back memories.

8/11: My, how times have changed, and I now conclude that Rocky Balboa isn't a good film.

Of course, it's filled with memories, but I can always watch the first five pictures to relive them. So, what's the point? The most atrocious aspect is the camera work. Did the guy holding it suffer from a bad case of rheumatoid arthritis?

It's hard for me to stomach Robert Balboa, a whelping who needs to be beaten by his father to get his priorities straight. Also, Paulie is tiresome, making the same complaints over and over. That shit was already old, going back to Rocky III. He should've died, not Adrian. Rocky goes into several different directions at once, leaving the film with ambiguities. In other words, not much happens. It's just a brain-damaged dude who likes to bullshit a lot.

All in all, it's time for the Rocky franchise to die once and for all.

10/20: What an embarrassment.

I went through the first five parts and thought they were all good. Then, I came to Rocky Balboa. Boy, what a stinker. They're both night and day in just about everything. Had Sylvester Stallone opted to do another sequel not long after Rocky V, it might have been worthwhile to watch, but sixteen years is far too much. I hate the digitalization as well.

Boxing was popular in 2006? No way. It pretty much died during the late 90's; since then, almost virtually nobody knows who the boxers are save for a couple, and they aren't even that good. So, why is Stallone desperate to tell people otherwise?

The announcers during the boxing match between Rocky and Dixon are absolutely the worst. It's the low-IQ, ESPN crap. I got tempted to hit the mute button many times while trying to watch the fight. Want to hear from the best of the best? Go to Stu Nahan and Bill Baldwin from the first two films: they were always spot-on and had perfect delivery of great lines.

Robert Balboa is played by three different actors when I thought Sage Stallone was perfectly fine. Why couldn't his father bring him back? Their peculiar relationship brought depth to Rocky V, so what's wrong with continuing it more? Sage's replacement sucks and looks like he never had an acting lesson in his life; the same can be said for Antonio Tarver.

Back to the main event, the fight is okay; it starts out well, and then, the horrible editing gets in the way after two rounds, ruining the show for me. The whole time, I had been thinking, "Why the heck am I supposed to be interested in an old man who's over twenty years past his prime for his last hurrah?" Honestly, what's left there is for Rocky to prove?

Despite the silliness, I have to say Sylvester Stallone didn't do a bad job, but his character looks quite out of it; hence, he should've made brain damage the central focus of the film, marking Rocky's true downfall as a result of being hit in the head too many times, especially in the fight with Ivan Drago. His attempt to build a relationship with Marie is kind of icky.

All in all, Sylvester Stallone shouldn't have kept going after Rocky V.