Sylverster Stallone's Rocky Balboa

This sort of film experience is definitely a rare one. Everyone loves Rocky so much that the excitement level in the theater was off the charts. When the closing credits rolled a guy a few rows down from me actually put his fists up in the air and started bouncing down the steps out the theater just like Rocky. It's easy to infer from that last statement that Rocky Balboa is a crowd pleaser and a great movie.

In this installment Rocky has grown old, he now spends his days running a restaurant in his hometown where he reminisces about his boxing days for the pleasure of his guests. Adrian has passed away sometime before the events of the film and Rock is still having a hard time getting over it. His son can't get out of his father's shadow and its causing him to resent his father's success. Oh yeah and Pauly is still around being his grouchy self. I'll leave some for you to see, but eventually on television ESPN does a 'what if' bout between Rocky and the current young buck champ Mason 'the line' Dixon. Well guess what Rocky wins and this gets people a talking, and lucky for us it eventually gets Rock back in the ring.

On the level, I loved this film. It is by no means a perfect film as it has some heavy flaws. The whole first acted is held back by a sort of mopey melodramatic undercurrent. Its never bad to a cringe worthy level but it does seem to get real close to crossing the line a few times. In particular this film is basically filled with didactic speeches that sometimes come off a little to forceful and not quite genuine to the story. When we get to big fight its a great scene, but it has this over the top montage effect for about 8 rounds that really seems to glaze over the fight instead of highlight the big moments.

Now that I've gotten those gripes out of my system its time for some unadulterated gushing. First off this film is really quite funny. It uses the humor to keep the pace of the film up and never let it get boring, but it never feels like humor for humor's sake, its just the characters being their likable selves. It's almost like we get to start the whole Rocky story over again. The film feels like a new beginning we are watching Rocky back in that underdog situation which made us all love him. Stallone is great in the movie. He plays the film with all the charisma that made him famous in the first place.

I'm glad that Rocky went out with this film and not the horrid Rocky V. Even with my qualms its still a film I loved and would recommend to anyone with a beating heart.When Rocky gets into the gym with Duke and we hear his goose bump inducing pep talk, when that training montage with the classic music starts a rolling you know what this film is all about. I have a theory when it comes to Rocky films(and a few other types). There are people who love Rocky films, and there are people who haven't seen enough Rocky films yet. If your in the first category get your ass to the theater, if your in the second get your ass to the video store, and then get your ass to the theater.

5/5 "A great last fight for a great film franchise."

Trailer here