Sylvester Stallone's ROCKY BALBOA.

[UN Spacy]

I saw it today, its not spectacular, but it is ALOT better than I had expected, this is what #5 should of been.

Awesome.

I'll probably catch it this weekend because there wasn't a decent matinee time that I could attend.

[Fortress_Maximus]

The reviews are getting better. It is now certified fresh on rottentomatoes.com with a 77% rating.

I never put much credence in the ratings provided by rottentomatoes. Wait for someone you know to watch if you are on the fence.

[Fortress_Maximus]

WTF? Damn repost errors. Anyways, I hope to watch this film on Friday.

Edited December 21, 2006 by Fortress_Maximus

[kanedaestes]

I saw it after work on Thursday, i thought it was good, or rather a lot better than i gave it credit for. If you are a Rocky fan, or just want to kill a saturday afternoon I recommend you go see it.

[Apollo Leader]

I saw it on Wednesday night. It was a good, positive, feel good movie and it was a good way to send off the series and character.

[areaseven]

Rocky Balboa ( ロッキー バルボア )

Revolution Studios/Columbia Pictures/Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, 2006

Written and Directed by Sylvester Stallone

Running Time: 102 minutes

Rated PG for boxing violence and mild language.

"Let me tell you something you already know. The world ain't all sunshine and rainbows. It is a very mean and nasty place and it will beat you to your knees and keep you there permanently if you let it. You, me, or nobody is gonna hit as hard as life. But it ain't how hard you hit; it's about how hard you can get hit, and keep moving forward. How much you can take, and keep moving forward. That's how winning is done. Now, if you know what you're worth, then go out and get what you're worth. But you gotta be willing to take the hit, and not pointing fingers saying you ain't where you are because of him, or her, or anybody. Cowards do that and that ain't you. You're better than that!"

Cast

Sylvester Stallone as Rocky "The Italian Stallion" Balboa

Antonio Tarver as Mason "The Line" Dixon

Burt Young as Paulie

Geraldine Hughes as Marie

Milo Ventimiglia (Peter in Heroes) as Rocky Balboa, Jr.

James Francis Kelly III (Grant in 7th Heaven) as Steps

Tony Burton as Duke

Pedro Lovell as Spider Rico

Talia Shire as Adrian Balboa (flashback scenes)

Michael Buffer as Himself

Mike Tyson as Himself

Joe Cortez as Himself

Synopsis

Many years have passed since two-time heavyweight champion Rocky Balboa hung his gloves and a management mishap sent his family from his mansion back to South Philadelphia. His wife Adrian had passed away, his son Rocky, Jr. now works at a business firm, and he runs an Italian restaurant named after his late wife. The father-son relationship has nearly disappeared due to Jr.'s time with his business and his displeasure of living under his father's shadow.

Meanwhile, Mason "The Line" Dixon is the reigning undisputed heavyweight champion, but his popularity has gone downhill due to a lack of formidable competition. Then, one night, ESPN airs a computer-generated simulation match between Rocky and Dixon, with the Italian Stallion emerging victorious. This sends a shockwave of curiosity among boxing fans and the people around both men. A real exhibition match between Rocky and Dixon is scheduled in Las Vegas. Does Rocky still have any fight in him for one last round?

Lowdown

"Another Rocky movie?" you ask. After the bitter disappointment that was 1990's Rocky V, many viewers thought it was over for the famed underdog. But here's a surprise: Rocky Balboa is actually a very good film. So good, it almost makes you forget Rocky V ever existed.

Like Rocky V, Rocky Balboa takes you back to the streets of South Philly, where it all began - from the old pet store to what's left of the ice rink where Rocky and Adrian had their first date. And no one will ever forget the front steps of the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Unfortunately, the Rocky statue is "gone" (in reality, it's been moved numerous times; today, it's on the northeast section of the museum). The film even uses new variations of Bill Conti's classic score selections from Rocky I-III to add to the nostalgia.

Now for the characters. Rocky, Paulie and Duke have survived through all six movies. Milo Ventimiglia plays Rocky, Jr. (previously played by Stallone's real son Sage in Rocky V), and he does a fairly decent job. Spider Rico, a boxer knocked out by Rocky 30 years ago, makes a return appearance by just hanging around the restaurant. Antonio Tarver, famous for knocking out Roy Jones, Jr., does a better job at acting than Tommy Morrison did in Rocky V.

In place of the departed Adrian is Rocky's new love interest Marie - a character last seen 30 years ago yelling, "Screw you, creepo!" at him. Back then, Rocky had predicted she would end up being a whore (which actually ended up in the cutting room floor prior to Rocky V's release). Instead, Marie is a single mother who meets Rocky at an old tavern and eventually gets a job at his restaurant. As Rocky bonds a mutual friendship with Marie, he becomes a father figure to her half-Jamaican son Steps. Rocky even goes out and adopts an old dog as a means to motivate him in his training.

So how about the training and the fights? The training montage is nothing spectacular compared to the previous films, and Dixon only has at most a minute during the entire sequence. The fight itself is well-choreographed, as we see a fairly accurate portrayal of Rocky past his prime: slow, sluggish, but still a lot of fight in him. Even though the fight seems very short, it's almost as intense as Rocky's fights with Clubber Lang (III) and Ivan Drago (IV). The ending itself has everyone leaving happy.

If you love the Rocky movies, don't miss this one. It's a great way to end one of the most popular film franchises of all-time.

Rating: B+

Links

Official Rocky Balboa Homepage

Reference

The Internet Movie Database

Edited December 25, 2006 by areaseven

[Jolly Rogers]

Finally watched it on DVD yesterday. Thumbs up!

Paulie crying like a little girl was so wrong, I am glad it ended up on the cutting floor.

[1/1 LowViz Lurker]

Saw it. I loved it. More emotional than others since he has to deal with the loss of all the things he had. But the uplifting thing about the final rocky is he passes on all the things he knows to other underdogs out there struggling to keep going. The speech about taking a hit and still getting up is the key to all the rocky fights. In the first movie he didn't have to beat apollo but show his best despite apollo not taking him seriously and having a huge skill advantage. The fans like that kind of story of someone "coming from out of nowhere" and taking the crowd by surprise by refusing to give in despite the odds and taking advantage of as much opportunity as they can while they still have time to do it and the windows are still open. Even if you get beaten, you can at least say how much damage you did to the champion. Losing without a fight is always worse than losing but still continuing to put 100% effort into it. Retaining the fighting spirit is what's important which is what the original was about. The movie went back to the root of the rocky movies which is coming from the bottom as a nobody and then succeeding because you put your full heart into it, coming out even stronger for going through all that work. Even if nobody who you respect actually gives a poo, or apreciates the hard work, you can be proud of what you did for at least not wasting opportunities and then regretting years later..."what if I chose the other option?". If there was an alternate ending and Rocky DID die, it would have been as a hero because it takes balls to go in with barely any preparation or experience and then actually come back out alive.

Now a Judge Dredd vs Rambo movie would be good. I think with the aliens vs predator movies people would still see it just so they could say how crap it was and warn other people who are going to see it anyway to not go to see it.

Edited March 28, 2007 by 1/1 LowViz Lurker

[Hikuro]

I got the DVD Sunday, I must say I was very impressed on the extras more then anything.

What I enjoyed was that it really did take to the roots of the original film, and didn't feel like a complete waste of time like Rocky V did.

Something that got me going "wow" was when they talked about the fight scene. Stallone goes on record "The previous movies, even when they were complete misses, there was a hit sound layered in"

He goes on saying that they would just beat wet leather to get the sound effect, or cracking a stick when he's pounding the meat.

"But in this movie, we were really hitting eachother, all the sounds you hear are not overlays or added sounds, that's me gettin the crap knocked outta me"

I loved the cute part where Antonio and Stallone are sparing and Stallones lil daughter was like "Becareful daddy" "Yeah huh? Too late!"

Stallone was heavily enthused on wanting to get hit, Antonio : / not so much...and at times Stallone felt a bit intimidated on hitting his rival cause each time Antonio looked like he was gonna beat the snot outta Stallone.

The deleted scenes were okay, what shocked me was in the original morning scene, Rocky tries to drink the raw eggs, a classic seeing as he chuged those ecoli wanna bes down the hatch but this time he nearly up chucked it!

Also didn't know Paulie was livin with him for a while 0_o interesting.

[Roy Focker]

I rented the DVD on Sunday. This was a good film. Even with Rocky's face lift.

God do I hate Pauly.

[1/1 LowViz Lurker]

You're not really supposed to like him though. He was a pretty pathetic character in the first movie too.

What's funny is he gets booted from his job in this one which makes him go back to his old self. And Rocky's son quits his job. This movie is depressing!

It's like they WANT everyone to fail, just so they can have them all attend rocky's stupid fight.

[kensei]

Despite the drugs, I admire his work ethic to get back in shape.

A7 quoted one of the best lines in the movie. It's quite true.

While in the end he did lose by a bee's dick, he truly won by going head to head with a world champion that had greater reach and youth than him. A pity that arrogant guy won, but everyone got what they wanted in the end.

Edited March 28, 2007 by kensei

[Jolly Rogers]

what shocked me was in the original morning scene, Rocky tries to drink the raw eggs, a classic seeing as he chuged those ecoli wanna bes down the hatch but this time he nearly up chucked it!

As long as the egg doesn't come into contact with the exterior of the shell, it should be safe for consumption raw. I have yet to get sick from eating raw eggs.

"Do you have a reservation?"

"What? Do I look like an Indian?"

[Roy Focker]

John Rambo does you country still need you?

http://www.flynetonline.com/2007/03/rambos...n-thailand.html

[mpchi]

While I like Sly and Rambo as well, his face looked pretty jacked up in those Rambo 4 pics. I really hope those were makeup, after a scene he got beat-up or something.

Looking forward to pick up the Balboa DVD.

Edited March 28, 2007 by mpchi

[Hikuro]

0_o dammit just when I forgot about the Rambo movie.......