My first thought when I heard that a sixth Rocky movie was in production was, �oh my God, Stallone has finally reached bottom!�. The once box-office champ has made nothing but duds for over a decade and was considered well past his prime. Cameos in movies like Taxi 3 and Spy Kids 3-D seemed to confirm this. That he would dredge up his most iconic role for one last money-spinner had all the hallmarks of a desperate attempt to win back some of his long-lost fame, at the cost of the last vestiges of self-respect.
Well boy was I wrong. While there were some serious concerns about an aging Stallone playing Rocky once more, and of course writing and directing as well, he has pulled off a superb farewell to a legend and won over a whole new generation of fans. The film itself is excellent, never straying into self-parody but tenderly revisiting past events, locations and characters with an easy touch. Stallone is outstanding as the down-on-his luck former champ, living alone in an apartment and entertaining customers with old stories at his restaurant, Adrian�s, named after his late wife whose grave he regularly visits.
On poor terms with his own son, who sees Rocky�s shadow as the cause of all his own woes, he is simply fading away until an ESPN program pits him against current champ Mason Dixon (Tarver) in a computer-generated fight for the ages. After it suggests that Rocky wins easily by knock-out Dixon�s managers, aware that Mason is an unlikable joke who has only fought weak opponents, present Rocky with an opportunity: an exhibition match between the two fighters to truly see who is the greatest. While at first skeptical Rocky is eventually convinced to do it by a woman from his past whom he has befriended, Marie.
So the scene is set for a battle between the past and the present, with Stallone superbly visualizing the differences between the two. Rocky himself lives in a run-down world that looks like a 1980s inner-city crime flick, complete with graffiti, trash and vandalism. Even his clothes look old. His son on the other hand lives and works in a gleaming part of the city, and even has the temerity to drink in a fancy but soulless bar called �Irish Pub�. The distinction could not be more obvious and brilliantly portrays Rocky as living in the past, in a world the rest of us are desperately trying to get shot of.
Dixon�s life is also shown as very different to Rocky�s, spoilt as he is by multi-million dollar show fights and the champagne lifestyle of modern sportsmen. His house is a glass and steel behemoth and he has all the cars and hangers-on he could want. Yet he plays basketball by himself dreaming of a way to prove himself against a worthy opponent. In many ways this is the state of heavyweight boxing these days, with no great fighters and slackening public appreciation, unlike in Rocky�s day when the sport held immense importance and featured some of the greatest men who ever fought.
Of course no Rocky film would be complete without a training montage, and the film does a wonderful job of honouring its predecessors, with Rocky put through his paces with beer kegs, chains, and long runs with his dog. His character is also rounded out by social interaction, most notably with Marie and her son Steps (James Francis Kelly III), who he befriends and draws into his circle. Rocky is shown as a rescuer of lost souls, and with this in mind Geraldine Hughes is superb as Marie, a woman who has been beaten down for so long that she no longer sees anything good about herself. The film�s most tender moments revolve around their burgeoning, though platonic, love as Rocky reawakens her dignity and his own in the bargain.
I can�t recommend Rocky Balboa enough and it is everything Stallone wanted after the disappointment of Rocky V and its depressingly poor ending. At last he gets to say goodbye to one of the silver screen�s most iconic characters in a fitting way. All the actors are superb, with Hughes and Stallone stand-outs and Heroes Ventimiglia excellent as Rocky, Jr. The final fight between Dixon and Balboa is beautifully filmed and, for a sport increasingly seen as bloodthirsty barbarism, a reminder that most men who fight do so for honour and to show that they have the heart and the will of a champion. A true champion, like Rocky Balboa. |
