The Plot Rocky Balboa (
Sylvester Stallone) is leading a retired life as a restaurant owner. His life
seems to have been caught in the past as he relieves the memories of his golden days in the
boxing ring at the hotel to keep the guests entertained. His wife is dead and his kid is a bit taken aback by living in the shadow of this father.
Elsewhere boxing champion Mason Dixon (Antonio Tarver) seems to be winning his matches so easily that his matches have become so boring that crowd are booing him after his matches. The whole world of boxing seems to be in a downspiral. But, a comparison in ESPN comparing Mason with Rocky suddenly increases a spurt of interest in the game.
As the public interest builds up, debates start and that gets Rocky thinking. He reapplies for a boxing license to start fighting again. To his surprise Mason's agents approach him to fight with the champ. The match is termed as an Will Vs. Skill exhibition match, but most experts don't expect it to go the distance given the fact that Rocky is way past his best. They think it is going to be an execution and not an exhibition.
But, Rocky takes it seriously and starts gearing up for the big day. What happens next? Can Rocky roll back the years and pull something out of the hat again? Check out Rocky Balboa for the details.
Critic's Viewpoint Statutory Warning: This part of the review has some spoilers
The success of the Rocky series is owing to inspiring storylines full of soul and blood and the fight of an underdog who knows only one way in life that is to throw the punches. Rocky Balboa tries to get another inspiring storyline of the retired champion coming back for one last hurrah. The story has a lot of potential, but is very slow from the beginning. Almost the whole of the first half is lost in Rocky's current life which seems to have literally come to a stand still.
Excitement does pickup once the bout is announced and we get back to Rocky's training schedule and the match preparation. But, this time around there is no tactics other than to just throw the punches. Then the match comes and again a match that begins with a lot of fanfare and expectations comes to a quick end and unfortunately does not reach the heights of Rocky's previous memorable fights. Some of the scenes in the fight like Rocky stumbling and hanging to the ropes seem to be a single scene being played over and over again. Even Rocky's punching push out when cornered seemed to have been overplayed. And of course, there was no strategy in the fight, so just plain punching and jabbing that's it. Thankfully, the decision goes in favor of Dixon to have a thread of reality in the movie.
On the positive side though, the wry humor that
Sylvester Stallone brought to screen in the original series is still very much there and that makes the movie pretty watchable. Also there are a few great scenes in which the dialogs seem to have been delivered from the heart and do pack a punch so to speak. I loved the pep-talk that he gives to his son when he tells Rocky of how big a shadow he has been on his life. I also liked the scene when Rocky is denied a boxing license.
Also the punchline "It ain't over till it's over" makes a comeback. There were a few more good dialogs that I liked in the movie like "It ain't about how hard you hit, it is about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward."
Coming to performances, Stallone looks every bit the old champion as his body and shape are still intact except for that little tummy that is popping up. The puffed up eyes seem to sit well with the image of a retired boxing champ whose face has taken a heavy battery. He still seems to have fire in the performances, but his rock solid emotionless face and his heavy dialog delivery still hamper his performances. But, I guess they are a part and parcel of the Rocky legend. So his performance is definitely in keeping with the rest of the Rocky series.
Amongst the others the only other character from the original series is Burt Young as Paulie and he still can be lovable and irritable at the same instant. Amongst the rest of the crew, Antonio Tarver seems lost in his role as the champ and does not seem to go pound for pound with Sylvester Stallone. The kid still has to learn a lot before he can stand up to a legend. The others are decent without really standing out. BTW, Mike Tyson makes a cameo appearance in the movie playing himself!!
Spoilers end here Summary As they say in the movie "Every great champ has one last fight in him!!". Probably for Rocky Balboa this last fight just did not pack the punch that the rest of his movies had.
I would give this movie an average three star rating.