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Title: Rocky Balboa
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| CONSUMER ADVICE |
Parents, though there is some boxing violence and mild language, this is an otherwise inoffensive movie. Recommended for ages 10 and up. |
Everyone's favorite underdog is back in the game, as Sylvester Stallone brings back the character that made him a household name in the first place, with the sixth entry is the popular Rocky series "Rocky Balboa" (apparently, Roman numerals are no long in). Going into "Rocky Balboa" is like walking into a bad teenage comedy, as you go in with low expectations and more then a little cynicism. Yeah, sure, the original "Rocky" was critically acclaimed and won the Academy Award for Best Picture, but that was in 1976. This is 2006. That's about...a thirty year gap between the original movie and the current one. And Stallone is now sixty. Can he really pull off acting young anymore? The answer is no, so Stallone doesn't even try. Instead of pretending he's still 22, Stallone has Rocky retired at the age of 62, who is running a successful restaurant but has a strained relationship with his son ever since his wife died of causes that are not revealed in the film.
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Then one of those computer simulators sets up a virtual fight with Rocky fighting the current heavy weight champion of the world Mason "The Line" Dixon. The computer deems Rocky would win in a fight, which gets Rocky into wondering what it would be like to get back into fighting. Rocky doesn't consider getting back in the ring for glory or fame, but more for the fact that he's somewhat stuck in time and wants the past back. Rocky constantly visits places he and Adrian used to visit, much to his brother-in-law's frustration. "You're problem is that you're living in the past. But I can't do that anymore," Pauli tells Rocky on the anniversary of Adrians death. For once, Pauli actually comes off as the wise one. Everything in Rocky's life is about the past. Rocky may own a restaurant (named Adrians appropriately enough), but Rocky doesn't actually manage the business or cook the food, he just dresses up in a nice suit and tells the costumers stories of his boxing career, taking a photo once in awhile.
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His son loves his dad, but is frustrated that he passes through life based on the fact that he is the son of a former heavy weight champion. Even Rocky's friend Marie, the girl he walked home near the beginning of the first movie, is helped by Rocky mainly because Rocky can see the results of something good he did in the past. When the opportunity to fight Mason comes to Rocky's table, he accepts the fight because he wants to put the past behind him. In a phrase that will most likely become one of the most popular lines of dialog in history, Rocky tells his son "Life's not about how many punches you can throw at it, it's about how many times you can get hit and continue to punch back." When we finally get to the big fight, Rocky is once again an underdog. No longer young, looking a little frail, but with just enough determination that you can't help but hope he wins.
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Yet the road will not be easy. "Rocky Balboa" delivers everything you expect a Rocky movie to have, from inspirational speeches, to a training montage, to spouts with minor characters. All of this we expect, yet it feels fresh and interesting. The characters have something to say to each other, and the storyline is very human and personal. I was amazed by how involved I got with these characters, considering that I haven't really spent any time with them in years, and all of them look completely different then when I last saw them. When Rocky first ran up those stairs and lifted his fists in the air, he was saying something to the world. Now he's saying something else, and it's just as inspiring as the last thing he had to say. By bringing Rocky down to our level, and dealing with the issue's we've all been joking about, Rocky becomes the underdog once again, and we're only happy to root for him some more. "Rocky Balboa" is one of the best films of the year.
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