Despite looking more like his mum than the Italian Stallion we remember from his Oscar winning 1976 debut, Sly Stallone is back for his sixth, and final, outing as Rocky Balboa.
Having hung up his gloves in the early 90s, Rock now spends his days regaling fans with old stories in a restaurant he set up after his wife Adrian’s death from cancer three years earlier.
But there’s still a fire in his heart, or as he puts it “the beast’s still in the basement”, so when a computer programme that compares fighters from different eras calculates that Rocky could still beat today’s current champion - Mason “The Line” Dixon – his curiosity is aroused.
And before you know it Rock is back doing what he does best, chinning raw eggs, pumping iron and legging it up those famous Philadelphia Art Museum steps, in preparation for an exhibition bout against the champ. Good to see that brain damage from episode IV has miraculously cleared up Rock!
They say:
Total Film: "The Rocky Balboa you were hoping for, dreaming for, and an astonishing personal triumph for Stallone. Bring on Rambo VII?”
Empire: "If you hear the Rocky theme and think ‘118 118’, you might wonder what all the fuss is about. For the rest of us, this is a reminder of why we fell in love with the character in the first place.”
Channel 4: “On a scale of heavyweight greats, with the first Rocky being Muhammad Ali and Rocky V Danny Williams, Rocky Balboa is roughly an Evander Holyfield.”
We say:
The key to being remembered as a great champion is knowing when to go out on top, something Stallone certainly didn’t manage with the execrable Rocky V.
It was the cinematic equivalent of seeing Muhammad Ali, once the people’s favourite but now an embarrassing shadow of his former self, being pounded by Trevor Berbick in the last bout of his career.
But in a remarkable rope-a-dope turn around, Stallone has stunned us all with an uplifting, charming and rousing sixth instalment that is a fitting finale to the Rocky legacy.
Sly has gone back to basics, ditching the flashy 80s excess of the sequels and recreating the template of the award winning original.
Using archive footage from episode one and setting all the action on the same Philadelphia streets, Stallone takes us back to the heart of Rocky.
Spending the first half of the movie fleshing out our hero’s character is a masterstroke, as by the time Bill Conti’s iconic theme tune finally kicks in and Stallone begins his training routine the audience is hooked.
Too old for any grace or technique Rocky’s trainer opts for a strategy of “blunt force trauma… We’re gonna hit him so hard his ancestors are gonna feel it. He’s gonna feel like he just tried to kiss an express train” which leads to a nostalgic montage that sees him knocking out the one arm press-ups and thumping carcasses in Pauly’s (Young) meat factory.
The climactic fight is expertly handled by Stallone (it was shot in the ring before a Bernard Hopkins world title fight last year) and although his guard still offers about as much protection as Britney’s birth control pills Rocky can still handle himself pretty well at 60.
Sure there are problems, such as the ridiculous story, some toe curling speeches and Stallone’s over reliance on cheesy sentimentalism. However, Sly has regained some credit as a writer after a miserable recent run and Rocky Balboa is a big hearted, witty and dignified ending to one of the biggest movie franchises in history.
Extras:
After writing, directing and starring in Rocky Balboa, it’s no surprise to see Sly also making a generous contribution to this lively special features package.
As well as a detailed and intelligent audio commentary, Sly appears in an amusing making of featurette that deals with the difficulties he faced convincing people, including himself, that he was still capable of stepping back into the ring as a sexagenarian.
“Reality in the Ring: Filming Rocky's Final Fight” deals with the technical details of the pugilism in greater details, chronicling his six month training programme and the final bout at the Mandalay Bay hotel in Las Vegas.
Also included is a sappy alternative ending and a handful of deleted scenes and bloopers.
CAST
Sylvester Stallone
Burt Young
Antonio Tarver
Milo Ventimiglia
Geraldine Hughes
DIRECTOR
Sylvester Stallone
TIME
102 mins
POSTED...
Thu 18 Jan 2007 at 9:51pm
