Rocky Balboa
Genre: Drama, Action
Director: Sylvester Stallone
Starring: Sylvester Stallone, Antonio Tarver, Burt Young & Geraldine Hughes
Year: 2006
Sylvester Stallone Sylvester Stallone, Antonio Tarver, Burt Young & Geraldine Hughes2006The wait is finally over and the sixth sequel to the much-loved series is here. After the disappointing fifth film can the fans get the finale that they deserve?
Living alone after the death of his wife Adrian, out hero is now in his late 50’s and having trouble living without fighting. His son is now working a souless job in the city and rarely visits his pop despite regular invitations. Rocky has his restaurant, where he delights customers with his boxing tales, but despite this he is a bit lonely. He then meets barmaid Marie and her Steps (yes, Steps) and quickly befriends them and getting some inspiration back into his life.
Then Rocky sees a virtual boxing match up on ESPN between him and the current champion, Mason (The Line) Dixon - a cocky fighter who has yet to have his skills tested after a string of wins against unexperienced rivals. Rocky is victorious in this virtual fight and, despite the huge odds against him, decides to fight Dixon for real. Initially people are doubtful and attempt to persuade Rocky not to fight as they expect he will be humilated, but slowly they change their opinion as they turn to Rocky’s impossible fight to bring inspiration to their own lives. Cue montage!
The first hour of Rocky Balboa is quite disappointing and essentially consists of Rocky meeting new & old friends down on their luck and bashing out some inspirational advice. In fact pretty much every sentence Stallone speaks his proper OTT dialogue that you will ever love, laugh at or cover your ears the script is so bad. But then all this is totally necessary to set the viewer up for the big finale of the fight. The whole point of the film is that you can always achieve something against the odds and never give up after all and you will be cheering after the first hour for one simple reason:
The montage.
And what a montage. The classic theme is played in full as all the old cliches come out - intense training, punching meat in a warehouse, lifting unimaginable weights and running up those steps. Everyone in the cinema will cheer at this point - guaranteed! Rocky even does his training with a new pet dog! Genius.
And then after the montage comes the fight everyone has been waiting for. Set in Las Vegas (where else?) the lengthy fight is sheer entertainment from start to finish. The cliches are out in force once again - flashbacks of past fights, slo-mo punches, the obligotory black & white bit - but you won’t care. You will be cheering Rocky on and wanting him to prove all his worth! On another note the cinematography of the fight is stunning throughout and really does keep you in the intense action. It really is edge-of-your-seat stuff.
So Rocky Balboa is predictable and essentially a ‘greatest hits’ package of the Rocky series. If you didn’t like the old films this one is not going to change your opinion but if you are a fan you will not be disappointed. I enjoyed it thoroughly and it is a great film to watch with the lads.
Oh and stick around for the credits. You won’t regret it.
Overall - 8/10
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Yink says:
Ah thats kewl to hear, I wrote the film off, think my bro will love this film.
Jan 19, 2007, 6:28 pm