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.
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