Well, I figured it was time for at least one post this month before it finishes and as I did a couple of updates of my old Rocky reviews, I thought I would do another one as I will look at Rocky Balboa, the 6th entry in Rocky franchise.
So, after 17 years, let's take another look at this film and see how it fairs...
And here comes the usual warning...
PLOT SPOILERS ARE AHEAD!!!
STORY
So, the story is set in 2006 and Rocky is now a retired boxer who lives a quiet life in his old neighborhood in Philadelphia, but he is now a widow as his wife Adrian died of cancer back in 2002. Rocky however runs a small Italian restaurant which is successful and he named it after Adrian, and he often tells customers old stories of his former boxing matches. Rocky however is still haunted by his own personal demons and his grief over losing Adrian as well as a fading relationship with his son Robert (Milo Ventimiglia) who struggles in his work as a corporate employee.
Rocky one night goes with Paulie (Burt Young) his good friend
to the spots where he first met Adrian as he recalls the memories of
how they met and fell in love, however Paulie soon grows tired of this
and tells Rocky to stop living his life in reverse as he has been doing
it for too long. Rocky later that night goes to the local bar where the
bartender turns out to be "Little" Marie (Geraldine Hughes) who was
once the young girl that Rocky walked home one night in the first film.
Rocky soon befriends Marie and her son Steps (James Frances Kelly III)
and his friendship with them blossoms as it starts to slowly bring him
out of his rut.
Meanwhile on the boxing circuit, the current heavyweight champion of the
world, Mason "The Line" Dixon (Antonio Tarver) is not seen to be very
popular by the public because it is deemed he is yet to fight an
opponent that will truly test him. And when ESPN show a computer simulation
of a fight of Dixon against a young Rocky Balboa the fight ends with a
surprise upset of Rocky defeating the champ, which annoys Dixon.
Rocky
also sees the computer simulation fight on TV and it inspires him to get
back into boxing again, and when he is successful in gaining a boxing
licence again, he makes his intentions public. Dixon's promoters also
come up with the idea of having both Dixon and Rocky fight one another
in an exhibition match, which both men eventually agree to. However at a
press conference there is much doubt and speculation over how both men
will come off as a result, as Rocky is seen as a has-been and Dixon as a
champ who is yet to really prove himself.
Robert later after the press conference approaches Rocky and expresses
his anger at Rocky's decision to box again as he feels that all it will
do is cast a big shadow over him and further highlight his own
shortcomings and make look inferior. Rocky then gives Robert some
advice and tells him that he shouldn't blame other people as it won't
help him and that he loves him but if he doesn't start believing in
himself "he won't have a life". The next day Robert rejoins Rocky at
Adrian's grave and he tells Rocky that he quit his job as he felt he
didn't fit in and that he'd rather be with him.
With the full support
of his family and friends behind him, Rocky starts to train for the
fight with help of his former trainer, Duke (Tony Burton) who tells him
due to his age and arthritis, they will need to build his strength and
punching power to have any chance to compete. When the night of the
fight comes, which is set in Las Vegas and is shown by HBO Sports, Rocky
takes to the ring against Dixon in their exhibition fight in which the
old dog must prove he's still got something in him..
THOUGHTS
Rocky Balboa remains a very fitting swansong to the series and in that
regard it succeeds very well where Rocky V somehwat failed to. The story itself
still remains charming with Rocky now a middle aged man, who has
suffered the loss of his wife Adrian, and as a result now lives in the
past with his memories. The story line itself of Rocky losing his wife
was actually supported by Talia Shire publicly as Stallone had written a
previous draft of the story involving Rocky running some gym clubs
locally with Adrian, but he felt the story didn't work and it would be
better if Rocky had lost Adrian as it allowed for the story have
stronger dramatic focus. And Stallone once again wrote and directed the
film and he provides a wonderful script which is funny and touching and
has plenty of great dialogue in it which I will get to later.
The film also introduces some new characters such as the likeable Marie,
a woman whom Rocky once knew, when she was just a young girl, and she
lacks confidence in herself and it takes Rocky to encourage her and come
out of her shell more. Mason "The Line" Dixon while he isn't the most
interesting character in the Rocky series, is represented fairly well as
a decent guy who just wants to be respected as the champion. And the
good thing about Dixon unlike Tommy Gunn, he isn't an arrogant dick and he
does end up having respect for Rocky and in the film for Dixon its more
about he is a victim of boxing promotion in that he isn't given that
positive an image, rather a champion who is yet to prove his own true
sense of worth.
PERFORMANCES AND NOTABLE SCENES (Warning: this section may contain spoilers!)
Getting on to the performances things are excellent overall here with the regular cast and the supporting all providing fine performances.
Starting with Sylvester Stallone who does a great job at reprising his role as the titular Rocky Balboa, who is now a 60 year old, who is a widow and is given one last chance to prove himself in the boxing ring.
And Sly has plenty of notable scenes such as the one where he offers Marie a run home, only for some local louts who were in the bar where Marie works earlier, to insult her as she gets into Rocky's truck. So, in the scene Marie says to Rocky "No, its alright" and Rocky refuse to let it go and says "No Little Marie. It ain't alright!" and he goes out and grabs the guy and says "What do you say?! What do you say?!" and the guys says "I'm sorry" and Rocky asks "What was that!" and the thug repeats "I'm sorry" and Rocky let's him go and shouts "Get a job!" and afterward Rocky gets back in his truck and says "That guy sends his apologies".
But Sly also has plenty of funny lines as well such as when he first
meets Marie and he sees her son, Stepps, who Rocky is unaware as he sees
a two young boys hang around, one white and black, and he refers to the
white boy "Yeah, he's got that nice Irish hair" and Marie says "Yeah
its the other one". And Rocky looks on in surprise and Marie says "His
father was born in Jamaica" and and Rocky says "Jamaica...European. Was
you on a cruise ship or something?" and Marie smiles and says "Not
exactly".
Another great scene from Sly is the one where he goes to the boxing commission who refuse to grant him a boxing license and Rocky gives an impassioned speech to the members about their decision. So, Rocko says "I mean maybe some of you guys got something you never finished, something you really want to do, something you never said to someone, something... and you're told no, even after you paid your dues? Who's got the right to tell you that, who? Nobody! It's your right to listen to your gut, it ain't nobody's right to say no after you earned the right to be where you want to be and do what you want to do!... ". And after a pause, Rocky says to the board "You know, the older I get the more things I gotta leave behind, that's life. The only thing I'm asking you guys to leave on the table... is what's right" and he walks out.
Then there is the scene where Rocky speaks to
his son Robert, who after blaming his own failures on his father's
celebrity tells him not to blame other people as it won't help. And
Rocky says "Let me tell you something you already know. Life ain't
always sunshine and rainbows, and the world is a mean and nasty place
and it will beat you to your knees and keep you there permanently if you
let it. No one is gonna hit as hard as life. But it ain't about how
hard you hit, its about how hard you can get hit and keep moving
forward! That's how winning is done! Now if you know your worth, you
can get your worth! But don't go pointin fingers at him, her or anybody
else! Cowards do that and that ain't you! You're better than that!".
And lastly Rocky says to Robert "You are my own flesh and blood and I'm
gonna love you no matter what. You are the best thing in my life. But
until you start believing in yourself you ain't gonna have a life" and after a pause, he says to Robert "Don't forget to visit your mother" and he walks off.
And last of all is the scene with Tarver when
Rocky and Dixon meet in Vegas prior to the match and Dixon says to Rocky "I'll carry you in this fight but if you try and cheap shot me, I'll get you out of there" and Rocky says to him
"You know a lot of people come to Vegas to lose. I didn't" and Dixon
says "Its already over" and Rocky replies "There ain't nothin over till its over"
and Dixon asks "What was that? From the 80s?" and Rocky says "No that
was probably the 70s!" and Dixon says "Just remember what I said" before walking off.
Burt Young is great again as Paulie, Rocky's long time cynical friend,
who has gone back to being a meat packing worker in Philly like he used
to, but he is eventually paid off and he carries on supporting Rocky
when he can.
Burt again gets some great dialogue and good scenes such as the one where Rocky, having heard about the computer fight of him and Dixon, he tells Paulie he still has some stuff "in the basement". So, Rocky says to Paulie "I feel like I still got some stuff in the basement?" and Paulie says "Where?" and Rocky points to his stomach "In here" and Paulie jokes with him and asks "What's the matter? Haven't you peaked yet?!". Rocky however then becomes emotional and says "You know, I didn't realise it would be this hard" and Paulie says "Why are you angry that Adrian left you?" and Rocky emotionally says "She didn't leave Paulie, she died!" and Paulie changes tack and tries to calm Rocky down "Easy, Rocko. Its OK".
And there is the amusing scene where after Paulie gets paid off from his job, he enters Rocky's restaurant and Marie at the front desk asks does he want to order something and Paulie laughs saying "Do I look like a freakin Indian?!". Rocky notices that Paulie has a bruised eye and he asks Paulie "What happened to your eye?" and Paulie "Hit it" and Rocky asks "Why?" and Paulie tells him "Felt like it". And as Paulie watches Steps leave, he says to Rocky "Who is the criminal? Hide the silverware!" and offended, Rocky says "He's a good kid".
And Paulie becomes angry when Rocky questions him over him losing his job and says "When did people
start giving out meat rather than watches when they retire, Paulie?".
And Paulie angrily says "I got a watch! You gave me a watch! I've GOT
TWO WATCHES!!" before he storms out into the back alley. However as Rocky follows him to the back alley, Paulie offers some rare encouragement to Rocky and says "The stuff in the basement. You're gonna do just fine, Rocko" and he walks off and Rocky smiles and says "Thanks, Paulie".
Geraldine Hughes is also excellent in her role as Marie, who Rocky
befriends and although she doesn't serve as a romantic subplot for
Rocky, she does well with providing Rocky with a much needed new
friendship in order to help him move on with his life.
Hughes has some good scenes with Stallone such as the one where Rocky first sees Marie's son, Stepps who Rocky is unaware as he sees a two young boys hang around, one white and black, and he refers to the white boy "Yeah, he's got that nice Irish hair" and Marie says "Yeah its the other one". And Rocky looks on in surprise and Marie says "His father was born in Jamaica" and and Rocky says "Jamaica...European. Was you on a cruise ship or something?" and Marie smiles and says "Not exactly".
And lastly there is the scene where Marie encourages Rocky to do the fight if that is what he wants to do, yet Rocky is still filled with doubt and she says to him "It doesn't matter how this looks to other people, if you this something you've gotta do then you do it! You're a fighter. Fighter's fight." and she looks at him and says "You're not gonna punch me are you?" and Rocky laughs gently.
Antonio Tarver who does well with his role as Mason "The Line" Dixon even though he is no actor and is in fact a real life boxer, who naturally excels more in his fight scene with Stallone than anywhere else in the film.
Tarver also have some nice good scene such as the one when Dixon meets with his former trainer, Martin, and they talk about him trying to get respect and at the end Dixon asks him "Is there anything the champ can do for you?" and Martin says "Well you could give me some of that money you got" and Dixon smiles "You know I like you, Martin..." and Martn laughs "Yeah but not that much!" and they laugh together.
And then there is the scene where they hold the press conference for the exhibition match and Dixon tries to play down the situation. So, as one of the press says to Dixon "If you lose, you'll be the joke of the decade" and Dixon says "You all know that won't happen. This is only an exhibition. Don't make more out of this than that computer tried". And as the press turn on him more, Dixon get's up and says to them "What do I have to do? You know I'm 33-0 with 30 knockouts. You wanna make a mockery out of me?! I'm the champ! I get pissed, (to Rocky) this guy get's hurt!" and he turns to Rocky and says "I'll see you at the fight".
And last of all is the scene where the night before the exhibition fight, Dixon goes up to Rocky and says to him "Look, there is no reason for either of us to get hurt in this fight. I'll do my best to carry you, save face and not embarrass you. But I promise you, if you press me, hurt me, hit me low, cheap shot me, I'll get you out of there". Rocky then says to Dixon "You know a lot of people come to Vegas to lose, I didn't" and Dixon says "Its already over" and Rocky says "There ain't nothin over until its over" and Dixon asks "Is that from the 80's?" and Rocky says "That's probably from the 70's" and Dixon says to Rock "Just remember what I said" and he walks off. Rocky then says to Dixon "Hey champ, aren't you a bit scared?" and Dixon says to him "I don't get scared" and he walks off.
Milo Ventimiglia does a fine job as Rocky's estranged son, Robert, who lives in his father's shadow and ultimately is resentful because of it.
And Milo's best scene is when Robert confronts his father only to have his father come back at him to tell him he loves him but he has to start believing in himself.
So, Robert in the scene says to Rocky "Now I am asking you, as a favour, not to do this!" and Rocky taken aback says "Why? You got a lot goin on, kid" and Robert says "Because of my last name, that's why people bother with me in the first place! Now I start to get a little bit ahead, I start to get something for myself and with this going, its now gonna be worse than ever! Do you ever think how this looks?! DO YOU?!!". Rocky then tells Robert not blame him for his shortcomings and says "Cowards do that and that ain't you! You're better than that!" and then he says to Robert "You're my son, my own flesh and blood, you're best thing in my life but until you start believing in yourself, you ain't gonna have a life. Don't forget to visit your mother" and he walks off, leaving Robert to contemplate Rocky's words.
And last of all is the following scene where Robert meets up with Rocky again at Adrian's grave and he tells Rocky he quit his job. So, Rocky asks "Why aren't you at work?" and Robert tells him "I quit" and Rocky surprised asks "Why?" and Robert awkwardly tries to explain "I just didn't fit in there that's all". Rocky then says "I understand" and he asks "What are you gonna do now?" and Robert says "Right now, I'd rather be with you. Its been a long time since I've seen a fight" and they two of them hug and reconcile.
And finally Tony Burton makes a brief but welcome appearance as Duke, Rocky and Apollo's former trainer, and he gets some great dialogue as he tells Rocky how it is about his fitness "To beat this guy you need speed.... you don't have it! And your knees can't take the pounding, so hard running is out. And you got arthritis in your neck, and you've got calcium deposits on most of your joints, so sparring is out". And Duke then says "So what we'll be calling on is good old fashioned blunt force trauma. Horsepower. Heavy duty, cast iron, pile-driving punches that will have to hurt so much their rattle his ancestors! Every time you hit him with a shot, its gonna feel like he was kissing the express train. Yeah! Let's start buildin some hurtin bombs!" and Rocky nods and smiles.
DIRECTION
As for the direction Sylvester Stallone again puts in a fine job and he steers the
series back to form after the commercial disappointment of Rocky V (even though I like that film!). Stallone himself also revealed in his excellent DVD
commentary that the punches he and Tarver traded were in fact real and
injuries naturally occurred as a result such as swelling and
nosebleeds. Stallone also stages the fight scene well and shot it using
high definition TV cameras, as well as mixture of black and white film
and single colour shots.
MUSIC
The music score is once again by Bill Conti here and he does another nice job, even though he basically redoes the themes from the past Rocky films, and he doesn't really introduce any new passages as such, except a theme for Marie. However, what is important here is that we get Conti providing another solid score for the Rocky series and its never the same without him there.
FLAWS
So as for any flaws, does Rocky Balboa have many??? Well it does have some minor ones.
For starters there is the scene where Rocky pines after the memories of Adrian as it feels like Stallone is ladelling it on the sentimentality a bit thick as Rocky wanders around the old pet store where he first met Adrian and also where they stood outside his old apartment. However this is really the only scene where you feel the sentimentality really rears its ugly head.
You could argue that Mason Dixon is also a rather faceless opponent and that he lacks even less screen presences that even Tommy Gunn's character did and he doesn't really stand out either like Apollo Creed or even the ludicrous Clubber Lang. The film's fight scene while it is pretty good it has to be said it is rather distracting visually at times, such as when it starts to frantically cut from colour to black and white in order to convey Rocky's torment as he aims to vent his pain through the fight.
You could also argue even given its fairly short run time that the film still does lag a bit in the earlier sections prior to the build-up of the fight itself. This is notable in a few of the earlier scenes with Rocky befriending Marie as well as the already mentioned tour scene with Rocky going down memory lane reliving his past life with Adrian.
And last of all, I can't but help question if Dixon could have realistically carried on fighting Rocky after Dixon breaks his hand, which does allow for Rocky to unload on him for a good bit to even up the scores a bit. However, apparently it is possible for the hand to knit itself after a short time, which the film does make reference to, plus boxer's hands are heavily taped of course, so its maybe possible that Dixon could have carried on in reality.
This however does raise the question, did Dixon land enough punches to actually defeat Rocky? Just as the fight goes on, you definitely see a swing in momentum and I swore that Rocky got mores hits in that Dixon did! I guess however, in the end, Stallone didn't want to make it look to unrealistic to imagine an undefeated heavyweight champion boxer, could be beaten by a 60 years old has-been.
So, that's it for the flaws.
SUM UP
So, in summing up, Rocky Balboa is fitting end to the dedicated Rocky franchise even though the character would carry on into the Creed films. And the film is very well written and directed by Stallone himself and features some great dialogue scenes for all the characters, especially Rocky, who gives out his philosophy on life in a couple of great scenes. The supporting cast are also all pretty good with maybe the exception of Antonio Tarver, as Mason "The Line" Dixon simply because Tarver himself isn't really an actor and an actual boxer, who still does do well enough in his role. The film also features another charming score by Bill Conti and the fight scenes at the end are really good and well edited and overall this is a satisfying conclusion to Rocky's boxing career.
So, with that said, Rocky Balboa is a very solid and entertaining entry in the franchise and I will rate it:
8.5 out of 10
So, that's it for now and I will be back again soon with another post and I might just try and fit another one in before the end of the month.
So, until then its bye for now!
