Friday, March 09, 2007
Rocky Balboa
**** Rocky Balboa. Drama.
Directed by: Sylvester Stallone
Starring: Sylvester Stallone
Saw this at the Hercules with the kids. We'd seen the entire series in the past year or so, so it was something we'd been looking forward to.
Rocky Balboa is pretty much what you'd expect. Rocky's retired from boxing and running a little Italian restaurant where he gives fellow former boxers free meals and entertains the customers with stories from his days as the champ. But Adrian's dead, and Rocky's living in the past, and their son is tired of living in his famous father's shadow.
The current champ, Mason Dixon, is suffering from a bad reputation. He's had nothing but knockouts, so boxing fans are complaining that he's only taking easy fights and that he's not a "real" champ.
A computer simulation fight between Rocky and Mason Dixon that shows Rocky winning brings everything to a head. Rocky wants one last fight, and Mason Dixon's promoters want an exhibition match between the two to shore up Mason Dixon's reputation.
There are a lot of flashbacks, of course, and the training scenes are similar to Rocky IV, contrasting Rocky's working-man methods with Mason Dixon's high-tech. And we get the raw eggs and beef carcasses, too, just because.
And there's a new girlfriend for Rocky, to add a little hope for the future for him, since this really has got to be his last fight.
It's not nearly as good as the first movie, of course, but it's a much better end to the series than Rocky V.
...more
Categories: Movies, 4stars, Drama
Labels: 4 stars, drama, Movies
