Wolverine: "Go f*** yourself, pretty boy!"

Right OK its nearly the end of 2013 so I thought I would do one last post (if I don't do another quick one tomorrow!) so this one is on a film and it is the latest X-Men spin off film, The Wolverine, starring Hugh Jackman as hot tempered mutant with a long and painful past who faces one of his toughest challenges so far.  So with that let's sharpen the claws and give this one a look....

So film starts back in 1945 where Logan, the Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) is prisoner of war in a Japanese POW camp where he saves a Japenese soldier, Yashida just as the camp is about to hit by the atomic bomb (based from the real life events of atomic bombing of Nagasaki).  In the present day, Logan lives as a recluse in the woods of Yukon and he is tormented by nightmares of Jean Grey (Famke Jansen) whom he was forced to kill in the events of X-Men the last stand.  Logan is soon approached by a mutant named Yukio (Rila Fukushima) who has the ability to foresee people's deaths, who has been sent by Yashida, now an old man who is dying, who has requested to see Logan.  Logan travels with Yukio to Japan where he meets Yashida (Haruhiko Yamanouchi) who offers Logan the chance to become mortal in an effort to end the pain of his immortality (as Logan's body tissue has endless regenerative capability which has kept him alive for hundreds of years) by transferring his healing abilities into Yashida's body.  Logan however refuses and decides to pack and leave the next morning.  During the night however Yashida's physician, Dr Green, who is a mutant known as Viper (Svetlana Khodchenkova) produces something into Logan's body, but Logan wakes dismissing the sensation as a dream.

The next morning Logan is informed by Yukio that Yashida has died, however at the funeral, Yakuza attempt to capture Yashida's daughter, Mariko (Tao Okamoto) but she manages to escape with Logan's help.  Logan during the ensuing fight however, having sustained gunshot wounds, finds that he is not healing as quickly as he has in the past (which is an effect of the poison substance introduced by Viper).  Regardless of this, Logan and Mariko manage to travel to Yashida's house in Nagasaki (where the POW camp was based at the start of the film) and they soon become romantically attached to one another (or start shagging if you want to be crude about it! ;-)).  But it turns out they are not safe as the Yazkua locate them and capture Mariko, also Yukio soon meets up with Logan and tells him that she had a dream where she saw how Logan dies.  Logan dismisses Yukio's vision and he goes with her to interrogate Mariko's fiance to be, the corrupt politician, Noburo Mori (Brian Tee) who confesses he was involved in conspiring against Mariko, with her father Shingen (Hiroyuki Sanada) as he discovered that his daughter would be set to take control of Yashida's company.  And with Logan having discovered the truth he goes after Mariko to rescue her from Shingen's clutches but on the way he encounters one or two surprises....

After the decidedly average Wolverine Origins, The Wolverine sees the character get back on track and here the story's setting in Japan helps lend an effective dramatic weight to the film that was missing from Origins.  The film also deals with Logan's personal pain and anguish as every night he has nightmares and visions of seeing Jean, whom he killed at the end of The Last Stand, as her power had grown beyond anyone's control which threatened to destroy the world.  Logan also has the curse of immortality in that everyone he has known or cared about over the years has died, which has left him very much a loner and an outsider, as we see him at the start of the film.  But despite all that The Wolverine still manages prove to be a very entertaining film and there are still moments of humour to be found as well amongst the intense drama and action.

Performance wise Hugh Jackman leads a fine cast, and he is once again excellent in his role as the gruff mutant, Logan, with the adamantium claws that can do some serious damage and he plays so well with a mixture of heroism, cynicism, reluctance, humour and sorrow.  Jackman has quite a few highlights in the film that are not just in the action sequences, such as the dream scenes he has with Famke, as Logan dreams that he is in bed with Jean and she tells him to join her.  Jackman also has some fun moments such as the scene where he interrogates Mariko's fiance, Noburo Mori in a high up hotel room and he says to him "Start talking!  And if I don't like what I hear you're going through that window!".  And after the interrogations Logan throws Noburo out the window, and Yukio reacts saying "You killed him!" and Logan says "I didn't like it!".  But Yukio looks down to see that Mori has landed in a swimming pool below, and she says "How did you know there was a pool down there?!" and Logan says "I didn't!".  There is also another scene where Logan is bathed and washed by Yashida's maidens and they cut his long hair and beard, and he tries to tell them "I can manage this bit myself!".  And later Hugh delivers a cool line to Will Yun Lee's character, Kenuichio Harada (a former lover of Mariko and protector of the Yashida family), when Logan confronts him near the end and Logan says to him "Go fuck yourself, pretty boy!".          

The other performances are also fine which include Rila Fukushima as the mutant precog, Yukio, the plucky youngster who recruits and helps Logan in his attempts to rescue Mariko.  Tao Okomato is also good in her role as Yashida's grandaughter who is to be left in full control of the company, much to the resentment of her father Shangin.  Svetlana Khodchenkova is also good in her role as the creepy villain Viper, a mutant who can create poisonous toxins which she can use to kill or incapacitate (although I couldn't tell if that mole she has on the left side of her mouth was real or not!  Although it turns out it is).  And lastly I will mention Famke Janssen who makes a good impression in her scenes with Hugh Jackman, where Logan dreams that she is still alive with him and they are a couple, although he still has visions of stabbing her with his adamantium claws, as he did in The Last Stand and its also a neat way to keep her character in the film to have her in the dream sequences.

Direction wise James Mangold (who directed Cop Land) does an excellent job here and through his own skills, he helps bring real dramatic weight to Logan's plight and how he tries to cope with his pain and loss.  Mangold was not the initial choice of director as Darren Aronofsky (who directed The Wrestler and Black Swan) was originally attached to the film, but due to the long shoot away from home Aronofsky turned it down.  The film also looks terrific visually as well and Mangold makes great use of the stunning locations in Japan including Tokyo, and other scenes where shot in New South Wales in Australia (such as the opening sequence at the Japanese POW camp).  Mangold also stages the action scenes really well in the film and the Japanese setting allows for some very well choreographed fight sequences, especially in the scenes where the Yakuza try to capture Mariko and where Logan fights Shingen.  The film's score is also worthy of note as Marco Beltrami provides a very good and dramatic score which lends to the film's tone very well.

So The Wolverine does it have any glaring flaws????  Not as such, although perhaps just maybe the film does feel a little too weighted down by its dramatic tone at times, but in a way it is a good thing which helped bring an edge back to the character.  But apart from that it is a pretty good film all in all, even if it doesn't scale the heights of greatness but for what it does for the character, The Wolverine is still a pretty solid effort, which paves the way for more promising films involving the big hairy mutant in the future.

And so well that's it for my look at The Wolverine and that's most likely my last review of the year so it only remains for me to say a happy new year to you all when it comes and if I don't do a last minute review tomorrow I will see you next year.

Bye!!  

The Doctor's time

Well time for a post as its now the Christmas season and I hope you've all had a good Christmas and this post will be very much the subject of the Yuletide as it will be on The Time of the Doctor, Matt Smith's swansong as Doctor Who.  So let's give it a look.....

So the story is quite involved so I will only cover a paragraph's worth (as that's all I can be arsed doing tonight! ;-)).  And it all begins with the Doctor (Matt Smith) who in his TARDIS along with thousands of other ships receives a transmission which can't be deciphered which is being sent out across the universe.  The Doctor soon rejoins with Clara (Jenna Louise Coleman) and the two of them travel to one of the spaceships which is lead by Mother Superious Tasha Lem (Orla Brady).  Tasha asks the Doctor if he will investigate the cause of the message to which he does and along with the help of a detached Cyberman head, named "Handles" (voiced by Kayvan Novak) which the Doctor has kept as a temporary personal assistant, the message is decoded and it reads "Doctor Who?".  The origin of the message also appears to be from Gallifrey, which exists in an alternate universe and the Doctor finds a crack in the wall of the church tower within a small town called Christmas.  The Doctor then says that the crack is a scar tissue within reality and that it was created by the Time Lords who he believes wish to contact him so they can escape into our universe.  The Doctor then asks Tasha what is the name of the planet they are on and she reveals it to be Trenzalore, the planet where the Doctor is said to die on in the future.  When the Doctor presents his conclusions to Tasha that if he reveals his true name then the Time Lords will be set to arrive into the universe, but as a result the time war will begin again.  So the Doctor decides to stay on Trenzalore and he tricks Clara into sending her home by the TARDIS, and in order to keep the peace he has to defend against all outside attackers, as well as never reveal his true name in order to prevent the Time Lords from coming through.  And from here it get's messier until the story eventually reaches its rather emotional climax.....

As a finale to Matt Smith's tenure in his role as the Eleventh Doctor, The Time of the Doctor is a bit of a disappointment, as it promises much but in the end it comes up a bit short.  And once again the main problem of the story lies with Steven Moffatt's overly complex plotlines which do more to confound an audience then entertain them.  And its Moffatt's inability to write a story in an even remotely linear fashion is what often alienates me from watching the new Doctor Who series at times, regardless of what he has done for the show as he has written some excellent episodes, but here is a prime example of his over indulgence in trying to be clever and intricate, which threatens to really backfire on him and on the show.

That aside however there are still some enjoyable moments in the story and its a nice touch that the Doctor is set to live out what turns out to be his last regeneration on the planet Trenzalore, where we finally see him age into an old man.  And in order to keep the show going they also had to write in some kind of neat plot strand where the Doctor will receive a whole new regeneration cycle, which (SPOLIER!!!!) he receives at the end of the story.  This was also another amusing moment where the Doctor reveals that he had actually used up all his regenerations, which included the War Doctor and also the Tenth Doctor's aborted attempt to regenerate, which he put down to "vanity issues!" (which was in David Tenant's era, in the episode "Journey's end").  There is also a rather amusing scene where Clara near the start of the story walks into the TARDIS to find the Doctor is completely naked! (something which Matt Smtih appeared to enjoy in his tenure in the role!).

Which brings me on to saying a little about the performances and Matt Smith for starters gives a charming performance in his last outing as the Doctor, and yeah okay he still does all that annoying talking with his hands and running about, but you get as an actor he must miss the part and he seems to relish the moments he has here before its all over.  Smith also get's some funny lines of dialogue as you would expect such as when the aged Doctor says to Clara before he goes to confront the daleks for the last time "They like to talk so much I'll probably get bored before they even shoot me!".  His final scene is also nicely played although it is a bit schmaltzy when we see Karen Gillan as Amy Pond come down the stairs of the TARDIS and she gives him a gentle touch on his cheek, as the Doctor pretends to see her for the last time.  Smith also has a funny moment where he winds up Tasha Lem as she feels herself turn into a human dalek (as the dalek head stalk pops out of her forehead!) and he tells her "Never send a woman to do a doctor's job!!" and she slaps him, fights off the daleks and the Doctor kisses her. 

Jenna Louise Coleman does a good job as Clara Oswald (and she's rather fine!) although she mainly just runs about, get's deserted by the Doctor and cries often when she realises how little the Doctor has left.  Jenna's best scene however probably comes when she talks toward the crack in the church tower wall, as she pleads with the Time Lords to help the Doctor (and in that scene you hear Jenna's real Northern accent break out a little!).  Orla Bradley also puts in a decent performance as Tasha Lem, who helps the Doctor out, although it turns she is also a human dalek, but the Doctor helps her fight off the Dalek impulses from taking her over, and he kisses her afteward and she says "Next time give me notice before you are going to do that!".

And finally I will mention Peter Capaldi who makes his first appearance as the Doctor and even though he is only onscreen for no more than 30 seconds he does make an excellent first impression as the twelfth doctor.  And when Matt Smith makes that sudden sharp snap back and he turns into Peter Capaldi, when Peter looms toward Jenna, you can't help but think Malcolm Tucker has shown up when he gives that intense glower, before he groans and delivers his first line "Kidneys! I've got new kidneys!  I don't like the colour!".  And from even this one scene you get that Capaldi could make for being a great doctor, although its easy to surmise this based on Peter's excellent acting capabilities, but we will just have to wait and see how he get's on in the role, which he will fully take over next year and his first season will show in Autumn 2014.  Whatever happens its great that we've got a terrific actor to replace Matt Smith in the role and it promises to be well worth watching.

As for the story's flaws, well as I already mentioned the plot is very convoluted and half the time its difficult to follow and no doubt will take a few viewing to get to grips with (either that or just read the summary on Wikipedia).  I also felt the inclusion of the Daleks and the Cybermen were pretty redundant as they never really announce themselves in the story as they are more simply background enemy fodder for the Doctor to fight off.  The pacing of the story is also a bit slow and there are times where it even becomes a bit boring to watch and there is too much faffing about before the story arrives at its climax and the whole thing of the Doctor being like the local hero of the rather stupidly named town Christmas (purely as the story really lacks much else in the way of Christmas references) is also a bit dull, even though its a nice touch to see the Doctor age naturally over 300 years without regenerating.  I also felt like most of the new episodes when it comes to going for an emotional impact that they will always overdo it and from that point of view I always preferred the original series where they dealt with the doctors' depatures in a more understated way rather than hype them up in a way that they will try and guarantee the fans will reach for the hankies! (well that's the way I see it anyway, call me cynical if you will! ;-)).  

So overall the Time of the Doctor isn't a wholly satisfying end to Matt Smith's tenure as the Doctor, which is a pity especially after the very entertaining 50th anniversay episode, The Day of the Doctor, which in itself would have been a much better way for his era to have ended.  Regardless of that though the story does have some nice moments here and there and while his portrayal of the Doctor might not have been everyone's cup of tea, Matt Smith did provide a unique, quirky and at times even charming take on the role for the most part, which no doubt will be missed by many.

And on that note I shall bid yee farewell and Merry Christmas to you's once again. :-))    

The Social Network: "Let's gut the friggin nerd!"

OK time for a change of film after doing the Rocky series, which was rather exhaustive yet fun to do, so this one is about The Social Network, which is a dramatisation of the creation of Facebook and its creator Mark Zuckerberg.  So with that let's log on and have a closer look....

So the film starts back in 2003 with 19 year old Harvard student, Mark Zuckerbeg (Jesse Eisenberg) who is dumped by his girlfriend, Erica Albright (Rooney Mara).  Mark returns to his dorm where he blogs about Erica and insults her, and he then goes on to create an on campus website called Facemash.  Facemash allows students to rate the attractiveness of female students from other campuses, which Mark accessed by hacking into the servers of the other houses and selecting student photos.  As a result of this the Harvard network temporarily crashes and Mark is put on six months academic probation.  Afterwards Mark is approached by Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss (Armie Hammer and Josh Pence) and their business partner Divya Narendra (Max Minghella) who ask him to work on their project which is a dating site called the Harvard connection, which Mark agrees to work on with them.  Mark on the other hand has another idea for a website which he calls Thefacebook, which is an online social networking website for Harvard students, which he presents to his best friend, Eduardo Saverin (Andrew Garfield) who provides initial fudning for the project.  The site soon becomes popular on campus with other students, however the Winklevoss brothers and Narendra soon find out and believe Mark has stolen their idea, and they approach the Harvard president to complain, Larry Summers (Douglas Urbanski) who is not interested in their complaint.

As the Thefacebook gains popularity on campus, Mark expands to other universities including Yale, Columbia and Stanford, which attracts the attention of Sean Parker (Justin Timberlake) the entrepaneur who formed Napster (who was sleeping with a Stanford student at the time!).  Eduardo's girlfriend, Christy Lee (Brenda Song) then sets up a meeting for Mark and Eduardo with Sean, who expresses his vision for their company, which Mark shares but Eduardo doesn't and disapproves of Sean's attitude.  Mark then moves out to Palo Alto in California at the behest of Sean, who soon moves in with him to help and expand the company as Sean promises to put Facebook on two continents, meanwhile Eduardo is in New York trying to secure advertisement support.  The Winklevoss brother however while they compete in rowing in London they find that Facebook has expanded out to London and Cambridge.  After this the Winklevoss's decide to sue Mark for intellectual property theft.

However things aren't going so well on Mark's front either as Eduardo continues to show his disapproval of Sean whom he doesn't want to make decisions for the company, so he freezes the company's bank account, which angers Mark.  Mark however says he is willing to forget that as he has secured a $500,000 investment from an investor and he wants Eduardo to come out to sign papers.  However as Eduardo travels to the new Facebook office in San Francisco, he discovers that his interest shares in the company have been reduced from 34% to 0.03% and he decides to sue Mark.  And throughout the film there are sequences intercut from different depositions from lawsuits against Mark from the Winklevoss brothers and Eduardo, which soon culminates into the film's conclusion.

The Social Network as a dramatisation of the creation of Facebook works surprisingly well as on paper it would sound difficult to somehow bring such a theme to life in a way that would fascinate an audience.  But thanks to the excellent screenplay from Aaron Sorkin and David Fincher's sharp direction the film works very well although it has to be said there aren't that many in the way of sympathetic characters in the film with maybe the exception of Eduardo Saverin.  Aaron Sorkin himself said that he was attracted to the idea of doing the story not from Facebook itself but from a paper that was written by Ben Menzrich called the Accidental Billionaires and it was the themes of jealously, loyality, friendship and betrayal of the story that inspired him to get involved.  Mark Zuckerberg himself had even criticised his potrayal in the film as a cynical and pedantic youth who created Facebook as a means for people to try and get girls, whereas he said he created Facebook as he enjoyed building things and it was a means to get his creative output across.

As for the performances they are excellent, starting with Jesse Eisenberg who while his rapid fire delivery has a tendancy to grate, he potrays the character if not accurately then he certainly shows Zuckerberg's ambition and desire to succeed in establishing his creation, which would become a worldwide phenomenom.  Jesse get's plenty of good dialogue from Aaron Sorkin's wonderfully rich screenplay such as in the scene during one of the depositions, a lawyer asks Mark if he has his attention.  And Mark turns to him saying "You have part of my attention - you have the minimum amount.  The rest of my attention is back at the offices of Facebook, where my colleagues and I are doing things that no one in this room, including and especially your clients, are intellectually or creatively capable of doing!  Does that adquately answer your condescending question?".  In another scene Mark also expresses his arrogance to another lawyer and says "Ma'am I know you've done your homework and you know that money isn't a big part of my life, but at the moment I could buy Mt. Auburn Street, take the Phoenix club and turn it into my ping pong room!".  Eisenberg also shows Zuckerbeg in the film to have less than graceful social skills, even when he is talking to Eduardo, who in the scene where Eduardo tells him he got punched by the Phoenix, Eduardo says "But it was probably just a diversity thing" and Mark says "It probably was a diversity thing, but so what?".  And later Eduardo tells him he got to the second stage of the initiation process into the Phoenix house and Mark says "That's great.  You should be proud of that right there.  Don't worry if you don't make it any further."

Andrew Garfield is also very good as Mark Zuckerberg's good friend and co-founder of Facebook, Eduardo Saverin, who is potrayed as a more sympathetic character than anyone else in the film, especially as he is potrayed as being screwed over by Zuckerberg.  Garfield has several highlights in the film, particularly his scenes with Mark and the depositions where he at time painfully recounts how he was betrayed by Mark and Parker.  And Garfield also he plenty of good lines, such as in the scene where he confronts Mark after he discovers that his shares in Facebook have been rescinded and he says "You better lawyer up asshole, because this time I'm not coming back for 34% this time I'm coming back for everything!".  And during his deposition he recalls his and Mark's first meeting with Sean Parker and he says "When he finally arrived it was a Sean-a-thon after that and he owned Mark from that point on".  Also during the scene where his jealous girlfriend Christy Lee rows with him and he gives her a scarf as a present she says "Since when have you ever seen me wear a scarf" and he replies "This will be your first!" after which she sets fires to the scarf puts it into a bin and tips it onto his hotel bed.  And later Christy comes back and asks if he is going to California and he says "Yes!  And I'm breaking up with you!" (after she had discovered his Facebook page said he was single no less).

Justin Timberlake also puts in a good performance as the charismatic and cocky Sean Parker, who seizes his chance to get involve in Facebook and guide it to its success, although his partying and womanising eventually get's him into trouble with the law, which eventually leads to his shares in the company also being reduced (to 7% according to the film).  Timberlake's scene where he first meets Mark and Eduardo is good where he woos Mark with his entrepenaurial prowess and he makes a key contribution to the company as he leaves the meeting and says "Drop the "the" just "Facebook".  Its cleaner".  And in his first scene where he wakes up after having slept with a Stanford dorm girl, he tells her who he is "Well I founded an Internet company that let folks download and share music for free" and the girl asks "Just like Napster?" and he says "Exactly like Napster".  The girl says "Sean Parker founded Napster" and he says "Nice to meet you" and she says "I just slept with Sean Parker" and Sean replies "You just slept ON Sean Parker".

Armie Hammer also provides an excellent performance as the two Winklevoss brothers, one of whom was acted by Josh Spence, who was a double for Tyler Winklevoss, and Armie's face was superimposed using CGI over Spence's to show they are twins.  In their first scene Hammer get's a funny moment where the Winklevoss's outrow their competitors in a practice race and Cameron says "Is there anyway we can make this a fair fight?" and Tyler says "We could jump out and swim".  Also in the scene where they meet with the Harvard president and Cameron takes forever to make his point and Larry calls out to his secretary and says "Punch me in the face!".  And at the end of the scene as they leave Tyler angrily pulls the door knob off with his hand and says to the secretary "Whoops, seem to have broken his 335 year old door knob!" and drops it on her desk.  And when their business partner Divya says regarding Mark "I want to hire The Sopranos to beat the shit out of him with a hammer!" Tyler says "We don't even have to do that.  We can do that, I'm 6'5" 220 and there's two of me!".  And in the scene where the Winklevoss's discover that Facebook has expanded to UK universities, Tyler says to Cameron "Now I'm asking you for the last time, let's take the considerable resources at our disposal and sue him in court!".  And Cameron finally gives in and turns to his brother and says "Screw it!  Let's gut the friggin nerd!".

Rooney Mara also provides a good performance in her role as Erica Albright, and in the first scene of the film she argues with Mark when they are dating and she soon grows fed up and breaks up with him.  And she says "Its exhausting, dating you is a like going out with a stairmaster!".  And before she leaves him she says "You are going go on and probably become a very successful computer person, and you might think that you might go through life thinking girls won't like because you are a nerd.  But I want to tell you from the bottom of my heart that won't be true, it will be because you are an asshole!".  And lastly Max Minghella is excellent as Divya Narendra, the Winklevoss brother's business partner, who rushes in on them while they practice rowing and tells them "I just thought I'd let you know that Zuckerberg stole our website!  He stole our website.  Its been live for more than 36 hours!".  And during the deposition he talks about how "And Mark was the biggest thing on campus, that included 19 Nobel laureates, 15 Pulitzer prize winnners, two future Olympians and a movie star" and a lawyer asks who the movie star was and Divya replies "Does it matter?".  And his best line comes when he asks why Cameron Winklevoss refuses to sue Zuckerberg and Cameron says "Tyler might say it sounds stupid.  Because we are gentlemen of Harvard!  This is Harvard where you don't plant stories and sue people!" and Divya snaps back "You thought he was the only one who thought was going to sound stupid?!".

Direction wise David Fincher does a terrific job here as he gives the film a dramatic edge and has a great understanding of the story material and in doing so creates a film with vividly drawn characters.  The Social Network isn't one of Fincher's more visually flashy films but it still maintains the kind of greenish tint that some of his other films has, especially in the deposition scenes, which gives the film the distinctive style that separates Fincher from other filmmakers from a visual aspect.  The electronic music score for the film is also worthy note, which was composed by Trent Reznor (the main behind industrial rock band Nine Inch Nails) and Atticus Ross and it is largely excellent and it has some really good tracks, such as in the scene where Mark creates Facemash.

Flaw wise how does it The Social Network fair up?  Well it does have one or two, to start with perhaps one of the main one's is the potrayal of Mark Zuckerberg himself, as he is potrayed as a pedantic arrogant little prick, and as such it is hard to empathise with him, especially as he ends up screwing Eduardo out of the company.  Although Zuckerberg is seen to show some remorse toward shutting Eduardo out of the company in the scene where Eduardo finds out and he says to Sean that he didn't have to be so rough with him.  Almost in a typical dramatic storytelling fashion it also sets up Sean Parker as a bit of a villain and Eduardo as the good guy and with Mark stuck somewhere in between the two, who's real loyalty is to the company he has created.  And by doing that is seems to make a bit of a mockery of the real life facts of the story of Facebook and in a way you can understand why Zuckerberg himself was not happy with the arrogant potrayal of himself on screen.  And perhaps Sorkin tries to show Zuckerberg to be a bit of a nerd who has very little social skills and it appears to be a departure from the real life Zuckerberg who give seminars and goes on chat shows to talk about his invention, something which you can't see the jumped cinema version of himself doing.

Aaron Sorkin's screenplay while it is wonderfully written also is guilty of being excessively verbose and you feel that the characters in, especially the Winklevoss's could arrive at their point long before they even make it!  This is well highlighted in the scene where they talk to the Harvard president whom even says "Please arrive at the point!" as he's even thinking the same thing as the audience i.e. GET ON WITH IT!!!  Another problem is also Jesse Eisenberg's rapid machine gun fire delivery as there are one or two scenes where you actually struggle to make what he says, such as the one where he is testing for new programmers and he all has them drink shots intermittently during their test.  And in the scene where he parrots on about how he hacks into the other house servers to take the photos of every students to create Facemash its very hard for the non-programmers (i.e. the rest of us!) to follow as he quickly yaps on about Pearl, Metatags, etc etc.  Another issue I have is how can Mark be so stupid as to blog about his hackings while he does them!  As the Harvard server network crashes, he has even left a trail of breadcrumbs for the Harvard staff to find out who was behind it all!!  So he hasn't gone out of his way to cover his tracks very well has he???!  But then again he was only 19 and a bit drunk so hey-ho.

Anyway despite any of that, The Social Network is an excellent dramatisation of the events behind the creation of Facebook and it is very well written, directed and has some really good performances.  And even if you haven't an interest in Facebook you might just find you will enjoy it as well.

So on that note I shall leave it right there for now and since I won't be doing another post till either Christmas day or just after, I will wish you all a Merry Christmas just now and hope you all have a good one. :-)

Rocky Part 6: "Aint nothing's over till its over"

Right so here we are at the final part of the Rocky posts which will cover the sixth and final film in the Rocky series, Rocky Balboa, which saw Sly return to the character after a 16 year hiatus and it also marked the 30th anniversary of the original film as it was released in 2006.  So as its the final un let's give this one a look.....

So the film is set in 2006 and Rocky is now a retired boxer who lives a quiet life in his old neighbourhood in Philadelphia, but he is now a widow as his wife Adrian died of cancer back in 2002.  Rocky however runs an 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 relatonship 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 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 athritis, 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 it in him.

Rocky Balboa remains a very fitting finale to the series and in that regard it suceeds very well where Rocky V 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 a spoilt brat, 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.

Getting on to the performances things are very good here, starting with Stallone who provides another fine performance as Rocky, and he is generous in giving himself some wonderful monologues as well as some of the film's best lines.  And Stallone's best scene is where he 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".

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 and Marie says "yeah its the other one".  And Rocky looks on and says "How did you meet the father was it on a cruise or somethin?".  Also when Rocky sits with Dixon's boxing promoters in his restaurant they ask him what's good to eat and he says "Its all edible".  Also in the scene where Paulie visits Rocky's restaurant he looks at Stepps, and insults him by saying "he dresses like a bum" and Rocky says "Oh coming from a human hamper, that's quite a compliment!".  And there is the scene where Marie is insulted by a young thug who hangs around the bar where she tends, and Marie says it ok and Rock says "No Little Marie.  It ain't alright!" and he goes out and grabs the young thug and demands an apology and afterward get's back in his truck and says "That guy sends his apologies".  Stallone also has a good scene with Tarver when Rocky and Dixon meet in Vegas prior to the match and Rocky says to him "You know alot of people come to Vegas to lose.  I didn't" and Dixon says "Its already over" and Rocky replies "Nothin's over till its over" and Dixon asks "What was that?  From the 80s?" and Rocky says "No that was probably the 70s!".  Stallone himself even at the age of 59 still proved he could still get himself into good shape as he is shown to be still fit and strong for his age, which he shows in the film's fight scene. 

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 get's some great dialogue and some funny moments such as after he get's 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?!".  Also in the scene where Rocky talks to Paulie about his interest in boxing again, Rocky says "I think I got more stuff in the basement" and Paulie says "What?  You haven't peaked yet?!".  And in the scene where Paulie turns up at the restaurant and watches Steps leave, he says to Rocky "Who is the criminal? Hide the silverware!".  And after Paulie is paid off, Burt has a nice moment expressing Paulie's anger about losing his job although he said he retired, Rocky says to him "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.

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 one on one, especially where she 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 "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 does OK 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 does share a nice scene though 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.

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 he confront 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.  Milo also has another nice moment with Stallone in the following scene where he meets up with Rocky again at Adrian's grave and he tells Rocky he quit his job and says "I just didn't fit in there that's all.  And 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 get's some great dialogue as he tells Rocky how it is about his fitness "to be this guy you need speed.... you don't have it!" and he goes on to list all Rocky's physical ailments.  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!". 

As for the direction Stallone again puts in a fine job and he steers the series strongly back on form after the sentimental fest of Rocky V, at last Rocky finally feels grounded in reality again for the first time since Rocky II.  Stallone himself also revealed in his excellent DVD commentary that the punches he and Tarver traded were in fact real and injruies 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.  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.

So as for any flaws, does Rocky Balboa have many???  Not really as it only has one or two minor niggles, such as perhaps 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 another rather faceless opponent and while he is a better character than Tommy Gunn, 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.  But again these are fairly minor niggles and it manages to get most things right. 

So that's finally it for my look not only at Rocky Balboa but also the Rocky films as well, and Rocky Balboa was an excellent send off to one of cinema's most memorable and likeable characters (not to mention one of the most muttering as well! ;-).

And with that I shall take a break for a bit and probably do another couple of posts around Christmas time, which is now only a week away!

So until the next time bye the now.        

Rocky Part 5: "Goddamn! Only in America!"

Right OK time for part five of my posts on the Rocky film series (can't believe I'm nearly done already!) which will cover Rocky V, which marked the return of John G. Avildsen to the directing chair.  Rocky V was supposed to be the conclusion to the series, however it was poorly received on its release, but I will say more on that a bit later.  For now let's have the usual look at the plot summary and we'll take things from there.

Sooooo the film begins, in fine tradition like all the others where the last one left off (i.e. Rocky IV) with Rocky after his victory over Ivan Drago in Russia, returning home to the US with Adrian, Paulie and Duke (Tony Burton).  On arriving in the US, Rocky is reunited with his son, Robert (Sage Stallone) and at a press conference, Rocky is approached by the boxing promoter, George Washington Duke (Richard Gant) who attempts to get him involved in a fight with his prospect, Union Cane (Michael Williams) but Rocky refuses.  On returning home however things turn real bad as it is revealed that Paulie unknowingly had Rocky sign a power of attorney to Rocky's accountant, who had squandered all their money on real estate deals that went sour.  The accountant had also failed to pay Rocky's taxes over the last six years and their mansion is discovered to have a $400,000 debt, which forces Rocky to file for bankruptcy and to have his mansion and belongings auctioned off.  As a result of this Rocky and his family are forced to move back to Rocky's old neighbourhood in South Philadelphia.  And to make matters worse, Rocky discovers from the doctors that he has suffered brain damage after his fight with Drago and as a result he can no longer box.

Rocky then goes back to the gym belonging to his former trainer, the late Mickey Goldmill (Burgess Meredith) which Mickey actually bequeathed to Robert.  Rocky one day meets a young and hungry fighter named Tommy Gunn (Tommy Morrison) who is eager for Rocky to train him, however Rocky initially refuses, but eventually accepts and takes him under his wing.  Together Rocky and Tommy make a name for themselves as fighter and trainer as Tommy's raw talent as a boxer get's him noticed and he climbs up the ranks to be a top contender.  Rocky however has become so embroiled in training Tommy that he starts to neglect his son, Robert, who becomes discontent and angry at his father.  Robert also get's bullied at school, however he soon learns a few moves from Tommy and he beats up one of the bullies, and they soon start hanging out with one another.

Duke in the meantime uses the opportunity of a title shot to lure Tommy to join him, as he intends to take him away from Rocky.  Duke also makes Tommy aware of the fact that he and Rocky don't even have a formal contract agreement, which he also uses to his advantage to lure him away.  On the night of Christmas Eve, Tommy turns up at Rocky's house with Duke and he tells him how he is going to sign with Duke so he can get his title shot.  Rocky pleads with Tommy to not get involved with Duke as he is just using him, but Tommy refuses to listen and drives off in his car.  Rocky afterwards has an argument with Adrian as he tells her he resents being back in his old neighbourhood and that working with Tommy gave him something to aim for.  Adrian however tells Rocky that Tommy could never be him as he doesn't have Rocky's heart and spirit and that he should see to his son rather than Tommy.  Rocky then afterward goes to Robert and apologises for neglecting him and they make amends.

Later Tommy has his title fight against Union Cane and he ends up defeating Cane with great ease as he knocks him out in the first round to win the world heavyweight title, much to the chagrin of the crowd who boo him for having left Rocky.  Rocky is delighted watching at home but is disheartened when Tommy doesn't even acknowledge him on TV and instead credits Duke for getting him there.  Tommy however is given a grilling in a post match press conference where the reporters tell him that Cane wasn't even a proper champion as he never fought anyone to acquire it.  The reporters also say that Tommy needs to fight a worthy opponent in order to prove himself as a champion.  After the conference Tommy is furious and Duke convinces him the only way he can get the respect he so badly wants is to fight Rocky man to man.  Tommy and Duke soon confront Rocky at his local bar and challenge him to fight, with Rocky initially refusing, but when Tommy hits Paulie, Rocky challenges Tommy to a street fight, which leads to the film's climax as both men get involved in a dirty street brawl.

There is no doubt that Rocky V is the weakest of all the Rocky films and as it was supposedly the last Rocky film of the series it certainly in that regard proved to be something of a disappointment.  However despite all that I still think there is a fair bit to enjoy in Rocky V and while it is far from perfect, one thing that Stallone does do well here is relocate Rocky's story back to where he began in his old neighbourhood.  And by doing this Stallone manages to ground the series again back in reality after the wealthy excesses of Rocky III and IV.  And its encouraging to at least see the regular characters are still as endearing as they were before with Rocky still having his world weary charm, and Paulie proving to be the same likeable bum, and Adrian providing the emotional anchor to the family.  The film however as I mentioned was not successful on its release and even Sylvester Stallone mentioned afterward that he intended for Rocky V to see the series end on a high note but he was disappointed as he felt Rocky V just didn't do that.  But as for the film's flaws I will get to them a bit later on.

So moving onto the performances will things are actually not too bad here, with regular cast providing some nice performances.  Sly once again provides a charming and likeable performance as Rocky who after being forced to retire from boxing due to sustaining brain trauma from his fight against Drago and losing his wealth and posessions, has to go back to living on the rough streets of his old neighbourhood.  Sly get's some good scenes, such as where he pleads with Tommy not to sign with Duke and also in the same scene where he argues loudly with Adrian.  And Rocky says to Adrian angrily "Hey Adrian, I know where we live!  What do you think I am, stupid? I'm not as dumb as you think I am!  I see where I am Adrian, and I don't want this no more!  I want something good for the family and not this!  Adrian did I come back to have my brains beat out for these guys to say "Hey there goes Balboa!  Just another bum in the neighbourhood!".  Stallone also however has some fun moments in the film as well such as the scene at the end where he runs up the steps of the Philadelphia museum of art, and he gives Robert, Rocky Marciano's cufflink, and Robert holds it to his ear like an earring and asks how he looks and Rocky says "Well you look like the daughter I always wanted!".  Also Sly as Rocky tells some awful jokes, but there is one but I couldn't resist putting in with the punchline being "You can tune a piano but you cannot tune a fish!".  And when Duke tries to entice Rocky again to fight he quotes a line written by Mark Twain, and Paulie asks who was he and Rocky replies "He was a painter".  Another one of my favourite scenes in the film from Sly is when Tommy confronts Rocky in the bar and after Tommy hits Paulie, Rocky says "Now you knocked him down.  Why don't you try knockin me down now?!" and Duke says "Only in the ring!" and Rocky replies "My ring's outside".  Also another great line that Sly has is after the fight he walks up to the arrogant Duke, who says "touch me and I'll sue" and Rocky hesitates then punches Duke in the gut who falls onto a car and Rocky smiles and says "Sue me for what?!".            

Talia Shire once again also provides a nice performance as Adrian, Rocky's rock (OK I've used that one twice now!) and she shares her best scene with Sly in the scene where they argue over Tommy and their son Robert.  And Talia's best line comes during the argument when she says "All those beatings you took in the ring, I took them with you!  I know how you feel when someone like Tommy comes along you feel alive! But he's not you - he doesn't have your heart!  All those fighters you beat with heart, not muscle!  If you wanna pass something on, pass it on to your son, for God's sake!  You son is lost, he needs you!  I know Tommy makes you feel great, and he makes you feel like you are winning again, but you are losing us!  Rocky, you're losing your family!".

Burt Young is great again in his role as the cynical yet somehow likeable bum Paulie, who makes the stupidest decision of his life but giving power of attorney to Rocky's accountant and thereby selling them all down the shitter.  Burt has plenty of good lines in the film, such as in the scene when he and Rocky first see Tommy box with such aggression and Paulie smiles "This is the smell of opportunity, Rocko!".  And when Rocky asks Paulie what "cojones" means, he says "Its Latin for Spanish nuts!".  And in the scene where Tommy arrives in Mickey's old gym, Paulie says "Tommy said to me he wants to fight, so I told him to get married!".  And later on after so many fights with Tommy, Paulie realises that Tommy will never be Rocky and he says to him "This ship has sunk, Rocko, its sunk!".  He also has a funny moment where he dresses up as Santa for Robert and his friends, except rather than say "Ho ho ho" he says "Yo yo yo!" and tells the kids to shut up.  But Burt's best moment comes later when he confronts Tommy at the bar and he tells him "You know you're a real piece garbage you know that, Tommy?!  This man spit blood for you, he put you before his own family!  Rocky's the real champion and you're just a goddamn joke!".  And after Tommy decks Paulie, he looks up to Rocky and says "You should have left him on the streets where you found him!".

As for new cast members Sage Stallone, Sly's real life late son, makes a suprisingly good imperssion as Rocky's son, Robert, although his story is bit less interesting in how he has to deal with the local bullies at school.  Although it does allow for a good scene when the kid that bullies him taunts him again and Robert finally stands up to him and shouts "Go for it!" and proceeds to kick his ass.  He also shares another good scene with Sly when Robert has finally had enough of his dad's neglect and he warns him about his situation with Tommy "You know when you said to watch out for scams and deceptions? Well you are the one that should have watched out!".  Sage, who went on to establish himself as a film producer in his later career, sadly died last year of a heart attack.

As for Tommy Morrison however it has to be said that he is definitely the weakest link here as Tommy "the machine" Gunn, the young and ambitious boxer who wants to make it to the top, and is replete with a ridiculous mullett!  Morrison's delivery in the film is so wooden and one dimensional that you can't really root from him on any level and throughout he has a tendency to grate on your nerves with a Southern drawl and his fast delivery of such cliched lines as "Its my way or the highway!".  However to be fair his fight scene with Sly at the end is a pretty decent highlight in his otherwise bland performance and I like it when he grabs Duke and shouts "You don't own me!! No one does!  I want my respect!" and he later says to Rocky "This time I'm gonna put you through the street!".  Tommy Morrison himself unfortunately however has since passed away two years ago from complications due to reportedly having suffered from AIDS probably as a result of drug abuse as he had a troubled history of charges with the police for drugs, assault and possession of firearms.  In fact that remains one of the film's more poignant aspects is that two of the lead actors, Sage and Tommy are no longer with us, one of which sadly remains a personal tragedy for Stallone himself.       

Richard Gant although he is a more capable actor, his performance is also rather annoying as the manipulative boxing promoter, George Washington Duke, and most of the time you just want to slap him and by the time Rocky punches his lights out at the end, you feel its way overdue!  Regardless of that though he does get a few good lines such as when he grabs Tommy after the press conference and says to him he must get Rock to fight him.  "You gotta dog him, you gotta humiliate him, you gotta do whatever it takes to get him in that ring!  But that's what you gotta do!".  Also near the end of the film after he witness Rocky defeat Tommy in the street fight (SPOILED IT!!) he looks on amazed and says "Goddamn!  Only in America!".  And lastly another good line he has is when he fails to persuade Rocky to fight again and he says to him "You are a damned fool!  Looks like Mrs Balboa is the one with the cajones in the family.  Maybe we should sign her to fight Cane".

And lastly I will mention Burgess Meredith who provides a charming, albeit somewhat sentimental performance in a flashback scene when Rocky heads back to Mickey's old gym and he gives the younger Rocky, a cufflink that was given to him by Rocky Marciano.  And Mickey says to Rocky "If you ever get hurt and you ever feel like you are going down this little angel is gonna whisper in your ear.  Its gonna say "Get you son of a bitch, cos Mickey loves you!".    

And here's a quick mention to John G. Avildsen who does a decent job with the directorial duties here although he fails to really capture the grimy and realistic qualities that the orignal had, he still keeps the film moving along nicely and presents the boxing scenes well.  And lastly Bill Conti makes a welcome return with another charming music score although it does incorporate some music tones of the late 80s which does somewhat date it somewhat to that period.
   
Soooooo getting to the film's flaws and niggles as Rocky V sure has a few.  For starters one of the main problems with the film are its two new characters, Tommy Gunn and George Washington Duke.  For starters Tommy Gunn as a character is bland, turgid and one dimensional and his back story is not very interesting either, offering a wholly unoriginal idea of becoming a boxer because the anger he endured at the hands of his abusive father.  Yawn!  And you don't really care if he will makes it or not as the character is basically very uninteresting, as even in the film they call him "the clone ranger" as he has no real individuality.  And then there is the boxing promoter Duke who from the start is just an infuriating pain in the ass, who babbles on like some kind of demented evangelist and is obviously a take on the real life boxing promoter Don King (minus the ridiculous hair!).  And he even babbles on during Rocky and Tommy's fight when Tommy get's knocked down, Duke says "Now I told you not try and fight a street fighter's fight!".  Achhh shut up!  Union Cane is another pointless character, who takes on the undeserved mantle of the world heavyweight champion after Rocky's retiral and he serves to be an absurdly easy obstacle for Tommy to remove so he can claim the title for his own.  And the actor playing him, Michael Williams, even has a ridiculous line where he says "I'm better than Balboa ever was!".  Aye right!   

The film is also somewhat overly sentimental as well in places, particularly in the scene where Rocky has his flashback with Mickey and in that scene it just feels a bit too gushy with Mickey being overly gooey about his love for Rocky like a son.  The scenes with Rocky and Robert also feel a bit sentimental as well, and it starts to get a bit obvious and annoying when Rocky keeps trying to pull the same trick on his son by saying "Kid what's up with your ear?  You gotta bump!" and he pulls a coin from behind his ear with a bit of slight of hand, yet he does it so many times surely the kid would twig what he's doing!  Also the whole subplot of Rocky losing his entire family fortune by signing a blanket power of attorney to his accountant just seems really silly.  For starters why didn't Adrian take to do with Rocky's business affairs?!  As her character is a smart and capable woman who surely would be better at dealing with the financial side of things than a sleazy bum like Paulie, yet somehow it appears she decided to leave it all up to him!  Either that or she had some serious blinders to what was going on, but she would be absolutely mad to leave it up to Paulie, which is what appears to be have happened.

So it has to be said that Rocky V is the weakest of the six Rocky films and it has its problems and Stallone rightly made the decision to later conclude the series with its sixth and much better film, Rocky Balboa.  But despite all that it still is an enjoyable film and it did at least bring the Rocky series back down to earth and the three main characters are still as good as they ever were.  But its just a shame it couldn't have been that bit better.

Anyway so next up its round six with Rocky Balboa, the final round, and that will follow soon so until the next time bye for now.

Ding ding!              

Rocky Part 4: "If he dies... he dies!"

Right so now its time for part four of my Rocky posts and this times it all about Rocky IV (funnily enough!) in which Rock takes on the big muscle bound Ruskie, Ivan Drago in the sternest of tests of the champ's abilities.  So let's have a look...

So the film starts off where Rocky III left, with the reprise of the ending with Rocky defeating Clubber Lang, and afterward he has a private bout with Apollo, who wants to prove that he can still beat Rocky (the result of which is left undetermined, but Rocky has a black eye!).  After this the story moves to 1985 where Rocky is still the reigning world champion, but a new challenger comes to town in the form of the giant Russian boxer, Ivan Drago (Dolph Lungren).  Drago is accompanied by his wife Ludmilla (Brigitte Nielsen) along with his team and manager Nicolai Koloff (Michael Pataki) and in front of the press during a training session, Drago shows his formidable strength and punching power.  Apollo takes notice of Drago and in an effort to prove himself he decides to take the big Russian on in an exhibition match, convinced that he can beat him, Apollo persuades Rocky to train him.  At a press conference things quickly turn hostile between the Apollo and Drago's camps as Apollo ridicules Drago and the big guy pushes Apollo back and leaves Drago coldly incensed by Apollo's actions.

On the night of the match, which takes place at the MGM Grand hotel in Las Vegas, Apollo makes a spectacular entrance, wearing his old Uncle Sam boxing outfit, and with James Brown singing "Livin in America" in the background.  The bout begins with Apollo tamely landing a few punches on Drago, but things soon take a turn for the worse as Drago starts to beat Apollo relentlessly until he can barely stand.  At the sit down, Rocky pleads with Apollo to stop the fight, but Apollo refuses and insists that Rocky keep the fight going no matter what happens.  In the second round Drago continues to brutally beat Apollo and Duke (Tony Burton) Apollo's former manager pleads with Rocky to throw the towel but Apollo says no just before Drago lands one last fatal blow which puts Apollo down permanently, as Rocky enters the ring, Apollo dies in his arms.  After the match Drago is interviewed and shows no remorse whatsoever over his actions and says regarding Apollo "If he dies... he dies".

Rocky as a result of Apollo's death decides to relinquish his title belt (which he places in Apollo's coffin) and he agrees to an unsanctioned 15 round fight against Drago in the Soviet union (due to Drago receiving death threats in the US) to take place on Christmas day.  Adrian (Talia Shire) expresses her fears to Rocky about how he too could get killed if he fights Drago and she thinks he can't win, regardless however Rocky goes to Russia along with his trainer Duke and his brother-in law Paulie (Burt Young).  In Russia, Rocky is given a log cabin as his training base where he starts to train traditionally and in stark contrast Drago trains using very high tech equipment where he has a team of trainers and doctor monitoring his every moment.  Adrian soon decides to join Rocky in Russia as well to give him her full support, which motivates Rocky even further.  Come the night of the bout, Rocky enters the arena where he Russian audience boo him and as Drago arrives, a huge patriotic display is put on for the Russian fighter, and from here both men get down to business as they lock horns in an intense battle.

Rocky IV it has to be said is admittedly the cheesiest the Rocky film series ever got, however despite that it still remains a highly enjoyable film and with its rather short running time of 90 minutes its also easily the tautest of all the films as well.  And with Stallone at the directorial helm again as well as on the writing duties, he uses the cold war theme between the American and Russians and the film itself even had some criticism levelled at it as a propaganda piece.  And this is certainly mirrored in Apollo's death at the hands of the ice cold Drago where the Russians draw first blood in their contest with the Americans and both sides also display fierce patriotism during both bouts.  The film was also noted for during its production where Stallone and Lundgren actually engaged in an authentic contest in early sections of their fight scene, which lead to Stallone sustaining a serious injury to his heart after a direct blow from Lundgren, and Stallone was forced to leave the production and spent eight days in intensive care.  Stallone also later stated that Carl Weathers nearly quit the film's production as a result of Lundgren's overly aggressive approach during the filming of Apollo and Drago's exhibition fight, and it took Stallone to resolve the dispute and convince Weathers to come back to the film.  So even the film's production wasn't short on drama either!

As for the performances well things are mostly good, but they are a bit of a mixed bag as well, although Stallone still manages to provide a fine performance as Rocky, who suffers the loss of his good friend Apollo and has to face the might of the formidable Drago.  Stallone also potrays Rocky as being more resilient this time round after Apollo's death he actually maintains his focus while training for the fight even despite Adrian's refusal to support him, although she eventually reunites with him and does.  As for Stallone's dialogue as Rocky, he gives himself some good lines, such as where he speaks to Apollo on the phone, which is on a large robot, which Rocky bought as a present for Paulie's birthday, and he has to move around as the robot spins in a circle and he says "Yo, Apollo, how you doing?  How am I doing?  I'm getting dizzy!".  Stallone also has a good scene with Talia, where Rocky and Adrian argue about his agreeing to fight Drago and he says "I am fighter.  I can't change what I am.  We can't change anything we just have to go with what we are".  And after Adrian yells at him that he can't possibly win the fight, Rocky says "You're right maybe I can't win.  Maybe the only thing I can do is take everything he's got.  But to beat me, he's going to have to kill me.  And to kill me, he's gonna have to have the heart to stand in front of me.  And to do that he's got to be willing to die himself."  And his last scene where he addresses the Russian crowd he delivers his memorable, albeit corny speech about "If I can change, then you can change... everybody can change!".

Talia Shire is really good once again as Rocky's loving wife Adrian, although she is slightly sidelined in the film this time around.  But her best scene is when she argues with Rocky over his decision to fight Dragon and she says "Its suicide!  You've seen him, you know how strong he is.  You can't win!!".  Burt Young on the other hand is given a more prominent role here than before as he works Rocky's corner as part of his team and also travels with him to Russia.  Burt once again get's some of the film's funniest moments such as during the press conference where he insults Drago's manager who asks whom he is and Paulie says "I'm the unsilent majority, big mouth!".  And when Paulie arrives in Russia in the snow laden tundras he looks around and says "How the heck are you supposed to train here?!  What a depressing vacation!" and he ends up falling into the deep snow.  Also later on just prior to the fight, Burt get's another couple of good lines where he first says to Rocky "I just wanna say if I ever wanted to unzip myself from my own skin and be someone else, I'd be you.  You're all heart, Rock!" and later after he sees Drago up close in the ring he says to Rocky "You remember what I said about wanting to being you?  Forget it!".  Tony Burton also provides a good turn as Rocky's trainer and Apollo's former trainer who trains Rocky in Russia.  Burton also shares a good scene with Stallone where Duke talks to Rocky when they are in Russia, prior to starting Rocky's training he tells him "You're gonna have to go through hell.  Worse than any nightmare you've ever dreamed.  But when its over, I know you will be the one who is still standing". 

Carl Weathers also provides another fine performance in his last appearance as Apollo Creed in the Rocky series, as Apollo eventually meets his fate when he faces the towering Drago in a "friendly" exhibition bout which ends very badly.  Weathers again plays the part to perfection and displays Apollo's charisma, charm, confidence and arrogance.  Weathers also get's some of the film's best lines such as in the press conference scene with Drago, where Drago is asked a question but he doesn't respond, and Apollo says "The man's tounge didn't come through customs!".  And in the scene Weathers also shows Apollo's rampant ego and how he still thinks he is the greatest despite having boxed in five years as he says "Well I've been with the best and I've beaten the best!  I've retired more men than social security!".  Weathers also shares a good scene with Rocky while they re-watch their previous bout on film, and Rocky expresses his concerns about Apollo fighting Drago and Apollo says to him "Now I'm asking you as a friend, stand by my side this one last time."  And Apollo also highlights the cold war theme again as he says "Its us against them, Stallion!  Stallone you may not know what I'm talking about now, but you will when its over.  Believe me, you will when its over!".  And Weathers also has a really good moment when it probably finally dawns on Apollo that he might be totally screwed when he get's in the ring with Drago and just before the fight begins he taunts him by saying "Come on its time to go to school, son.  Come on did you hear what I said?!  Put your hands up, its time to go to school!" and Drago puts his gloves up and Apollo's gloves contact with them and he sees how rock solid physically Drago is, who coldly says "You will lose".

As for the new cast, Dolph Lundgren, while he hardly displays any real aptitude for great acting is still fairly good in his role as the mighty and merciless Ivan Drago who provides Rocky's sternest test in his career so far, as well as proving to be Apollo's literal nemesis.  Lundgren's incredible physique was well noted by Stallone, who felt that Lundgren could even have become a professional heavyweight boxer himself.  Lundgren's main highlights in the film are his two fight scenes with Apollo and Rocky, with the latter being one of the best fight scenes in the series, as it is a really intense and fairly even contest.  Lundgren doesn't have much dialogue in the film, which is probably just as well as his delivery is so robotic, but what little he has does have still manages to make an impression, especially in the scene after he has just clubbed Apollo to death in the ring and he says "I defeated an old man.  Pretty soon I will defeat a real champion!" and when he asked about Apollo's critical condition he says without a hint of remorse "If he dies... he dies".  Also later on in the ring just before Rocky's bout with Drago is about to start, he says to Rocky "I must break you!".  And surprisingly near the end of the fight, you actually gain some sympathy for Drago as the crowd turn against him and his manager angrily tells him he is a disgrace and he has to win, which leads to Drago picking him up by the throat, although he let's him go, but at this point you feel the Russians are just using him as a pawn in their game against the Americans.  And he shouts to the crowd in Russian "I win for me! For ME!!".

Brigiette Nielsen on the other hand however proves to be the real weak link in the chain of the cast, as her potrayal of Drago's wife, Ludmilla is somewhat hammed up and she is given some atrocious dialogue to deliver.  And Nielsen's worst scene comes where she speaks out against the Americans after Apollo's death and defends her husband.  "You call my husband a killer.  He's not a killer.  He's a professional fighter!  You have this belief that you are better than us.  You have this belief that your country is so very good and our country is so very bad!  You have this belief that you are so fair and we are so very cruel!".  Gaawwwwwd!  And finally (yep this has been a longgggg section!) Michael Pataki does fair better as Drago's manager, Nikolai even though he too is given his fair share of corny dialogue, which serves to heighten the tension and propaganda of the film.  Although Pataki does get one good line when during a demonstration of Drago's incredible punching power he says "The results are obvious.  Whatever he hits, he destroys".

Direction wise Stallone once again does a fine job here and he keeps the story and pace of the film very tight as it just clocks under 90 minutes running time, it is the shortest of all the Rocky films.  Stallone also in the film produces some great moments such as the montage of Rocky training which really pulls you into the action of his preparations for the fight.  And Stallone's direction of the fight itself is terrific and the fight is for me the best out of all six films, as the bout is both tense and exciting to watch.  As for the music score, well this time Bill Conti is missing (as he was occupied with scoring the Karate Kid films at that time) and Vince DiCola took over the duties of writing the music, and his score is not too bad, although it pretty synth heavy and does sound rather dated.  The film also has some other tracks by contemporary artists of the time such as Survivor, Kenny Loggins,  Robert Tepper and Go West, and most notably John Cafferty who contributes the song "Hearts on Fire" used during Rocky's training montage.

So as we are just about done, its time to ask if Rocky has any niggles or flaws worth mentioning???  Yup it does.  To start with it has to be said that while it is an entertaining film, it is also a very corny and at times cringeworthy one as well, particularly in scenes such as Apollo's overtly patriotic entrance to his exhibition bout against Drago as James Brown sings "Living in America".  Not to mention the scene where Rocky unveils Paulie's birthday present, which is a big robot servant, which says in a robotic voice "Happy birthday, Paulie".  And later Paulie has the robot's voice reprogrammed with a sexy female voice as its gives him a beer, Paulie says "She loves me!".  At that point you just want to bury your head under the sofa or in the sand just to escape sheer cringe factor of it all!  Drago also has an equally cringing entrance to his bout with Rocky in Russia, as presumably the country's anthem plays in the background and a large potrait on a curtain of Drago is unveiled with Drago standing in the ring looking on impassively (or perhaps he is secretly so bloody embarrassed at what alot of over the top patriotic pish he has to endure before he can even start the fight!!).  And once again here Stallone ladels on the patriotism way too thick so much so the whole thing at this point just feels like total overkill and would be almost fair to say the film is on the verge of being xenophobic.

The film is also guilty of being a bit like a music video at times, especially with the montage of scenes where Rocky takes a long soul searching drive in his car after Apollo's death and Robert Tepper's "No easy way out" plays in the background and it replays scenes from the previous three films.  And it feels like a long way from the down to earth reality of the first two films and more like a fantasy based film, where the Rocky series has started to lose its grip on the reality of the character and the story just seems to enter the realms of the fantastical. 

Another problem I have with the film is with Adrian's decision to travel to Russia AND LEAVE HER SON BEHIND!!!  I mean what the hell is that about???!  In the absence of his parents, their son has no guardians to look after him apart from the big bloody robot, which is hardly a substitute is it?!!!  And it hardly shows good parenting that both Rocky and Adrian are willing to leave their son behind and when Rocky reunites with her he doesn't even think to say "Wait a minute!  Where is the kid??? Did you leave the kid at home????!".  So if Rocky at this point can't remember his kid's name, what chance has he of remembering if the kid is still at home on his own!!  So this in itself remains for me a sizeable plot hole in the film but for the sake of the intruige of watching Rocky get in shape in what is admittedly the best montage scene in the series, we conveniently forget all about it!

It also seems extremely unlikely given Drago's immense physical power that Rocky would be able to actually withstand a beating from him over 15 rounds in reality and it would be more likely that he too might have died in the ring.  But hey this is a movie after all and it is Rocky Balboa we are talking about here, and to a lesser extent Rocky V deals with the extent of Rocky's injuries in his aftermath of his battle with Drago.  

Achhhh anyway all that put aside, I still think Rocky IV is one of the most enjoyable films in the series, with its quick pacing and terrific final fight sequence between Rocky and Drago, which alone is worth the admission price. 

So after that hugely exhaustive post I shall leave it there for now and bring up round 5 soon, Rocky V.

Until the next one see you later.

Ding ding!  
   

Rocky Part 3: "I pity the fool!"

Sooo now onto part 3 of the Rocky posts and this one is of course all about Rocky III, which saw Sylvester Stallone take the directorial helm once again (as well as writing the screenplay) and it also introduced Mr T to our screens in a memorable role as Rocky's main opponent.  So let's gear up the gloves, ring the bell and get a move on with the review.....

OK so starting with the usual plot summary, the film is set five years later after the events of Rocky II where Rocky is now still the heavyweight champion of the boxing world, and he has had a string of successful title defence matches.  Rocky is also now very famous and wealthy as a result of his world champion status, so much so, it causes Paulie (Burt Young) to become increasingly jealous of him, and one night in a drunken rage he smashes a pinball machine in an arcade, which has Rocky's visage on it.  Rocky bails Paulie out of jail and Paulie ends up expression his anger and jealousy, but he eventually relents when he asks for Rocky for a job, who says "All you had to do was ask!".  Some time later, a statue of Rocky is unveiled at the steps of the Philadelphia museum of art, where Rocky announces his retiral, however he is then interrupted by Clubber Lang (Mr T) an aggressive up and coming fighter, who demands a shot at the title and accuses Rocky of taking on easy opponents.  Rocky is riled by Clubber's taunts and he says to Mickey he wants to fight Clubber, but Mickey initially refuses as he admits that the fights that Rocky took to maintain his title defence were all handpicked, but Clubber on the other hand could do some serious damage to Rocky.  Rocky however soon persuades Mickey to train him one last time for the fight before they both will be set to retire.

On the night of the fight prior to the match, Clubber riles Rocky again and he shoves Mickey out of the way as he tries to get at Rocky, which leads to Mickey suffering a heart attack.  Rocky now wants to call off the fight, but Mickey insists that he get out there and beat Clubber and win the match.  As the fight begins, Rocky comes out strong and aggressive in the first round, determined to knock out Clubber early, however Clubber soon shakes off Rocky's fight and starts to take control of the fight as Rocky flounders and ends up all bloody and bruised by the end of the round.  In the 2nd round, Rocky is now too distracted with concern for Mickey as Clubber proceeds to knock Rocky for six and he knocks him out to win the title.  Rocky later goes back to the locker room where he tells a dying Mickey that he won the fight, however Mickey soon dies in Rocky's arms.

After this Rocky goes into a deep depression as he is racked with guilt over Mickey's death and one night he stops by Mickey's gym, where he is met by Apollo Creed (Carl Weathers) who tells Rocky that he lost the fight for all the wrong the reasons, as he had lost his edge and he wants to help Rocky get it back.  After this Apollo takes Rocky to Los Angeles, along with his wife Adrian (Talia Shire) and Paulie, and Apollo shows Rocky where he made his humble beginnings, and they begin to train in Apollo's former old gym along with Apollo's trainer, Duke (Tony Burton).  However the training doesn't go well as Rocky is too distraught from Mickey's death as well as learning about the truth of his title defence, which frustrates Apollo.  Adrian eventually manages to help Rocky out of his funk by letting him talk it out and she convinces to get back on track.  After this Rocky starts to adapt really well to Apollo's methods of training, as Apollo teaches Rocky how to gain speed, instead of his power hitting, he trains as well as he can to get ready for the fight.  And on the night of the fight, Apollo gives Rocky his American flag styled boxing shorts to wear for the fight, and he tells him that after its over that Rocky owes him a favour.  After this the rematch takes place as the film culiminates in the figh scene where Rocky aims to win back his title and restore his self respect.

Rocky III is an entertaining albeit at times, very corny follow up to the second film as here, Rocky is now a wealthy celebrity, who enjoys cashing in on his fame and his name.  However before you think the film might choke itself to death on its on shallowness, Stallone does a smart thing with Rocky here in III, as he makes Rocky re-evulate himself as a person after losing Mickey, he realises the wealth, his title and everything else is meaningless to him unless he can put his own personal demons to rest, as the remainder of the film deals with Rocky's slow journey to his emotional recovery.  Stallone also provides a good shift in story's tone as Apollo becomes Rocky's friend and ally as he helps him to train and fight to get his edge back after losing to Clubber.  Stallone himself for the part lost a fair amount of weight, as he dropped down to 155lb in an effort to get himself into the shape necessary to display Rocky's increased speed and movement as his daily diet consisted of ten egg whites a day and toast!  And the film was also noted for the creation of the Rocky statue, which to this day is still located at the steps of the Philadelphia museum of art, even thought it had been relocated over the years, the statue still makes it appearance at the end of Rocky Balboa.

As for the film's performances, things are pretty good once again, with Stallone once again providing a fine performance as Rocky, who he plays as being a little bit more sophisticated than before, as Rocky has embraced his celebrity, he now wears expensive suits and looks the part of an almost sauve businessman at times rather than a fighter.  Stallone however also does really well in conveying Rocky's anger and guilt over Mickey's death where Rocky becomes too demoralised to train to fight against Clubber again.  Stallone also get's some good lines of dialogue, such as the one where he is about to do a charity fight with a professional wrestler (played by Hulk Hogan) and Mickey says "This is riduclous!  No one else would do this much for charity!" and Rocky says "Bob Hope would!".  Also in the scene where Rocky arrives in Los Angeles with Apollo, along with Adrian and Paulie in tow, Paulie expresses his disapproval of the black neighbourhoods and he says "I don't like these people" and Rocky says "Well maybe they don't like you either, Paulie" and Paulie looks surprised "What did I ever do to them?!" and Rocky quietly says to Adrian "And they call ME punchy!".  Although for me Stallone's best scene in the film is where he finally confides in Adrian about how he is feeling during his training as he admits to how is afraid for the first time in his life and Adrian encourages him to get back on his feet.

Which brings me onto Talia Shire who does a great job here, and she has never looked better here than she has in any of the other Rocky films as well.  Talia also makes great strides with Adrian here as well, as Adrian is no longer a painfully shy woman, she is now a strong and confident person who does her best in supporting Rocky.  Talia's best scene is of course in the aforementioned one where Adrian helps Rocky talk out his problems with his own personal fears over Mickey's death and losing his title.  And Adrian says to Rocky "You gotta want to do it for the right reasons.  Not for the guilt over Mickey, not for the people, not for the title, not for the money, but for you.  Just you.  Just you alone!  And if you lose, but at least you lose with no excuses and no fear.  And I know you can live with that".  Burt Young also does a fine job as Paulie again, and his opening scene is really good where he wanders around, drunk, he comes across the pinball machine of Rocky, and he loses his rag and throws his bottle of whisky at it, smashing the image of Rocky.  Later on when Paulie goes to LA with Rocky and Adrian, his racist attitude while potentially offensive, is disarmed by his own stupidity, and I ike the scene where he tries to sleep in a old run down motel and looks out the window and shouts "Shut up ya lousy sterno bums!  I'm trying to sleep!".  And Burt has another hilarious moment when he arrives at Apollo's old gym in LA and as he walks in, he looks nervously around at the black neighbourhood and says "I don't even have a gun!".  And when Apollo during Rocky's training asks him "Can he swim?" Paulie sarcastically says "With a name like Rock???".       

Carl Weathers is also excellent once again in his role as Apollo Creed, and this time it makes a nice shift in the dynamics of the story that Apollo is no longer Rocky's rival, but now his friend, who wants to help him get back on his feet.  Weathers has some really good moments in the film, such as in the scene where he first meets with Rocky after Mickey's death and he says to him "Look man, when you beat me, I hurt all over and I didn't want to know my wife or my kids, all fighters feel that hurt, man.  But you lost that fight for all the wrong reasons, Rock, you lost it because you had lost your edge.  And now you have got to get it back, the eye of the tiger!".  Another good scene Weathers has is when he and Rocky watch the news about Rocky's defeat and Paulie says "Don't listen to it, Rocky" and Apollo says "No, do listen it, Rock.  Because after all this is over, those people are going to owe you an engraved apology!".  Weathers also has some good moments where Apollo expresses his anger and frustration at Rocky's lack of focus during their training for the Clubber rematch and he says to him during a sparring session "Damn it, man, what is wrong with you?!  This guy will knock you on your ass!  You think I was tough?  This chump will kill you!".  And in the scene just before the fight, Apolllo gives Rocky his boxing shorts to wear and he says "Just remember to wash em before you bring them back, alright?!" and just after he says "And once this is over you are gonna owe me a favour" (i.e. he wants a private rematch between him and Rocky).

And making his screen debut, Mr T also makes a strong impression as the hotheaded and aggressive Clubber Lang, who is determined to beat Rocky and eventually does and takes his title.  Mr T also get's some of the film's best and most memorable lines, such as in his pre-match television interview, prior to his title defence against Rocky when he says "I don't hate him, but I pity the fool!".  And in the same scene when the interviewer asks Clubber what his prediction for the fight is and Clubber relies coldly "Prediction? Pain!".  Also in the scene where Clubber first confronts Rocky outside the Philly art museum and he taunts him by saying to Adrian "Hey woman, since your man hasn't got any heart, why don't you get your pretty little self over to my place and I'll show you a real man!".  And one of my favourite lines of Clubber's is during a television interview when he hears that Rocky wants a re-match and will Clubber accept the challenge who says "I reject the challenge, because Balboa is no challenge!  But I'd be more than happy to beat up on him some more!".  I will also mention Tony Burton who also does well in his role as Duke, Apollo's former trainer and future trainer for Rocky, and when he meets Rocky again he smiles and says "I look forward to working with you, as its certainly been hard working against you!".

And lastly but not least Burgess Meredith provides a charming swansong performance in the series as Mickey, who by this time has nothing but respect for Rocky but as his manager has to do what he can to keep Rocky fit and safe in defending his title.  Meredith also develops a charming father and son like relationship with Rocky and they have some amusing moments where Rocky trains in a hotel ballroom, where Rocky invites the press to watch him train and Mickey angrily tells one of them to get lost!  Meredith's two best scenes in the film come though when he first off tells Rocky that he won't train him to fight against Clubber as "You can't win, Rock! This guy will kill you to death in three rounds!".  And later in the scene prior to the fight, Mickey suffers a heart attack and Rocky is left lost at what to do and Mickey weakly grabs him and says "You don't know what to do?! You oughta be ashamed of yourself!  Now go out there and do it! Do it!".  Meredith also get's a great line in the scene where he talks to Rocky about the truth of his title defence and he says to him "Three years ago you were supernatural, and you had a cast iron jaw.  But then the worst thing happened to you that could ever happen to a fighter, you got civilised". 

Direction wise, Stallone once again does an excellent job here and as he wrote the story and the character to begin with, he has developed a perfect understanding on the progression of Rocky's character and he does his best here with dealing with Rocky's own personal drama.  Stallone also keeps the pacing much tighter here than in the previous two films which also goes in the film's favour.  Music wise the film has another good score from Bill Conti, however its most memorable track is of course "Eye of the Tiger" by the rock band Journey, which Stallone asked the band to write for the film, and as a result it became a big hit and it remains one of the most iconic songs of the 1980s.
  
As for the film's flaws.... well it has to be said that Rocky III certainly isn't perfect, particularly as roughly the first half of the film is quite cheesy, as Rocky enjoys his celebrity, and does ads for American express, a charity exhibition fight with a wrestler, and also the unveiling of his statue is all a bit corny.  And after the first two Rocky films which strengths lied in their sense of grounded reality, Rocky III threatens to lose itself in its own cheesy fantasy, and its only in the second half after Mickey's death where the film starts to gain some more substance and drama.  I also felt that Clubber Lang at times was portrayed more like a pantomine villain than an opponent for Rocky and Mr T's souped up, arrogant and hyper aggressive potrayal is at times just comical.  And with Apollo you also get that Rocky had a true challenge in front of him, but with Clubber he's just a big strong guy with a real attitude problem, who in the end tires too easy.  And I also felt the boxing match itself was a bit of a letdown as rather than go the distance, Rocky ends up finishing Clubber off in three short rounds.  However that is mentioned by Apollo earlier on in the film when he says the key to beating Clubber is to put him away early or else Rocky would run out of steam tyring to beat Clubber in going the distance.  But as a result the fight scene in itself is a letdown as rather than an even contest, in the end Rocky just employs a "rope-a-dope" tactic against Clubber to tire him out and he eventually pummels him into submission.     

But putting all those niggles aside, Rocky III is still a very enjoyable and fairly credible sequel to the previous two films and its still fun to watch over 30 years later.

And with that I shall leave it there for now and cue up round 4, where Rocky takes on the big Russian dude, Ivan Drago.

Till the next one, bye for now!