Admit it: you love Rocky. If you didn’t love it, it would never have become the cultural landmark that it is today. There would be no “Gonna Fly Now” to pump fans up when their teams are down. There would be no reason to jog up Philadelphia’s Art Museum steps, turn around to face the world you have just conquered, and raise your arms in triumph. Hell, if you didn’t love Rocky, there would never have been a Rocky II. Or a Rocky V, for that matter, although that might actually be a blessing. So when Sylvester Stallone revealed his plans to revisit – and close – the 30-year-old movie series, you either cringed in fear that he’d wipe out all the good will from the Oscar-winning original or rejoiced that you’d have one last chance to scream “get ‘im, Rock!” at a screen. For those who have reservations about the film, I offer a simple suggestion: get ready to put on your imaginary gloves and shadowbox your way out of the theatre; Rocky Balboa is an effort worthy of the name.
The movie finds Rocky approaching 60, begrudgingly going about his workaday life in South Philly. In too many ways, he’s a broken man: Adrian is dead, the only memories of her are Rocky’s pet turtles and an Italian restaurant he opened in her name. Nightly, Rocky makes the rounds at the tables, regaling the patrons with tales of his storied boxing career – you can see the pain on his face has he grows tired of telling the same stories over and over with no other means of reliving them. His son (Milo Ventimiglia) wants nothing more than to carve out his own life without resting on his family name, but doesn’t have the talent and resents his father. Even Paulie (Burt Young) can’t churn up good will for the champ, abandoning him on their yearly tour of the neighborhood in memory of Adrian. But when a computer-simulated fight pits Rocky against current champ Mason Dixon (Antonio Tarver), Rocky begins to feel the need to box again, and an exhibition is set up between the two.
The success of Rocky Balboa lies in its mirroring of the original film: it’s less about the fight than about how people yearn for respect, both from themselves and from their peers. Even Dixon is a flawed character: he is masterfully talented but largely unchallenged, and the public links his lack of decent opponents with a lack of character. More to the point, though, it’s about how Rocky needs to find his place in the world.
Stallone has said in interviews that he intends the film to be a companion piece to his 1976 opus, and it’s obvious he feels a deep, personal connection to the character and the story. He and Young play their parts with a great amount of world weariness, making it impossible not to root for either of them. The side characters’ stories aren’t as fleshed out as they could be, with the exception of young Rocky’s turnaround to respect his father – a storyline involving Marie (Geraldine Hughes), the grown-up kid who once yelled “screw you, creepo” to Rocky, feels like a dead end, but is enjoyable for the most part. This shows Stallone’s difficulties as a writer, but anyone who has seen any of the Rocky franchise already knows them.
There are plenty of guilty pleasure moments in Rocky Balboa, ones that make you chuckle or choke up or stand up and cheer, but there’s no denying that the decision in the final round goes in favor of Rocky.
Rating: * * * * of 5
Yes, I agree with all you have to say. I even feel like they could have cut out the whole Marie & her son thing form the story & done something else. And it definitely made me want to run up the Art Museum steps.