Rocky Balboa

Story: 8
Action: 6
Acting: 7
FX: 7
Durability: 7
Special Features: 8

I saw this one back when it was in the theater. When I first heard about it, I was surprised that it was going to be about Rocky entering the ring again. I thought a Rocky movie being released today would be about him as a teacher and training a new guy that's supposed to step into his shoes. It was partly inspired by the George Foreman comeback, so it's still realistic in that sense.

The story begins several years after Rocky V. Rocky is long retired, Adrian passed away of cancer and Robert (Rocky Jr.) is grown up and working at an office. Initially, I didn't like the idea of the movie starting out with Adrian dead, but the rationale made sense. If she was still around for this finale, the storyline would be a repeat of Rocky V. The title character needed a new challenge... an internal battle to get over his repressed emotions. So I liked the storyline overall. It did a good job of connecting with the previous 5 movies as well as closing out the saga. Rocky Balboa also had 2 other storylines running alongside the main character's struggles that needed to be closed out. Robert was in the shadow of his father and the opposing boxer, Mason Dixon had to prove himself as a worthy champ. The movie did an excellent job of resolving all 3 of these. The plot never really involved a villain, which made it more powerful (because that would've been the easy way out).

Rocky Balboa didn't have the same amount of action as the previous 5 movies, but that's understandable. The story concentrated on drama rather than action. The last fight was shot very well though... better than any other Rocky final scene because it mimicked actual boxing techniques and angles. It wasn't shot for a movie like the previous ones. The choreography was also more realistic. The older movies had too much offense, no defense and no footwork.

The special effects were not bad. I didn't really expect any in a movie like this, but I give them credit for making the final match look and sound intense. They also did a pretty good job with the 3-D models in the computer match between Rocky & Mason Dixon.

For a non-FX type movie, I thought the special features on the DVD were very good. Most of them deal with the making of the movie and the storyline. My favorite was Sylvester Stallone's commentary. He spoke for nearly the entire length of the movie since there was so much about Rocky he could reflect on. The character has become such a huge American hero that it even eclipses his real life personality. Some commentaries just have a bunch of actors watching the movie, cracking jokes and getting off topic, but this was one of the best ones I heard. The deleted scenes were also pretty good, highlighted by an alternate ending. Stallone also mentioned that he's working on a director's cut that will use some of the deleted scenes.