ROCKY BALBOA — Movie Review
By John Argote Rodriguez
ROAD TO CREED II
SPOILERS!!!!!!
“Rocky Balboa” was released on December 20, 2006 and is the sixth film in the Rocky series and is once again written and directed by Sylvester Stallone as well as starring Stallone, Burt Young, Antonio Tarver, Milo Ventimiglia, Geraldine Hughes, and Tony Burton with Pedro Lovell.
“Rocky Balboa” takes place 16 years after the events of “Rocky V” and follows Rocky in his sixties where he’s since retired from the boxing, and his wife Adrian had passed away 4 years prior to the events of this movie lead to Rocky an Italian restaurant named after her, and has a rather weak relationship with his now grown up son Robert (Ventimiglia).
“Rocky Balboa” was made by Stallone in attempt to give the series a definitive conclusion due to “Rocky V” not being well received by both fans, critics, and Stallone himself who actually rated “Rocky V” a 0 out of 10. With “Rocky Balboa” Stallone set to give his character a final and proper farewell.
Personally I liked “Rocky V”, but I’m in the minority in this one. “Rocky Balboa” is Sylvester Stallone’s apology for “Rocky V” and wanted to give the chance a proper finale. So after 16 years did Stallone redeem the series?
You bet your ass he did. “Rocky Balboa” is a fabulous movie that brought Rocky in the glorious decade of the 2000s and I loved seeing Rocky living out a different life away from the ring, he’s a man with a fairly successful restaurant business, but he’s a depressed man. The world he knew has evolved and grown and he’s still stuck in the past. He’s still reeling from the death of his wife and along with that he has a rocky relationship with his son Robert (👈see what I did there😂) now played by Milo Ventimiglia, and he’s past his prime, but Rocky is inspired to fight one last time ro once again prove he’s not a shell of his former self despite his advanced age. This leads to many people doubting him even his son, but with Rock having the eye of the tiger he once again becomes the underdog ready to prove he’s worth a damn and not just the past.
This film is a great example of Sylvester Stallone at his A game because he nailed it down to the writing and how his character is and the drama stemming from his past and present. The acting in “Rocky Balboa” is top notch, Rocky is Stallone’s baby he knows this character well and you can tell that when Stallone is onscreen, he’s still got that Rocky charm and furiosity when he’s on the ring and of course the inspirational aspect of him that we’ve come to love about him.
Watching Rocky navigate life in this modern world while still clings to the past was the heart of the movie.
Now I don’t recall much from the release of the movie because 1.) I was only 7 when the movie was released back in 2006 and 2.) I didn’t become a Rocky fan until mid-high school around the time “Creed” was coming out in 2015, but I gotta assume making “Rocky Balboa” was a gamble. Think about it the previous movie was critically panned and made less than half of what “Rocky IV” made at the box office along with “Rocky Balboa” being about Rocky getting out of retirement to fight in his sixties was kind of goofy, but like the original film it prevailed expectations and showed us he’s still got it and the conclusion to Rocky’s story was a perfect ending to his story. Rocky amended his distant relationship with his son and overcame all odds and was finally in a peace of mind. His story had come full circle from the original to Balboa… that is until 2015.
As for the supporting characters of “Rocky Balboa” Milo Ventimiglia who replaced Sage Stallone as Robert was a nice edition to the cast, but I wasn’t big on the character since this story arc of estranged father-son relationship was already done in “Rocky V”, though one could argue that that was when he was a kid and now he’s an adult which is true, but this a well we’ve dealt with before, but I’m okay with this for causing one of the greatest motivational speeches in the history of cinema. You which one I’m talking about and Milo Ventimiglia is a good actor too so it’s a plus.
Burt Young as Paulie was good, but you know I don’t like Paulie so I could give less shits about Paulie who in 30 years hasn’t had a shred of character development. Tony Burton as Duke was a welcomed return after having a cameo in the opening of “Rocky V”, but he doesn’t have much to do in the story aside from training Rocky. Antonio Tarver was okay to say the least, he’s not the world’s greatest thespian that’s for sure and Pedro Lovell as Spider Rico was a nice blast from the past.
The one character who does get some developed is Little Marie now played by Geraldine Hughes who now has a son named Steps who I think was a great character, but he’s forgotten. It’s a shame Steps didn’t appear in the “Creed” movies, but on the discussion of Marie she was a nice addition, it was nice seeing a different character interact with Rocky and encourage him (more than Adrian did🙄). Her development I would say is great because she’s more of a plot character for Rocky, she doesn’t go through any change or any major change at least, but her addition to the cast was great.
After “Rocky V” bomber with the fans and critics along cane Stallone to bring back the series and end it on a perfect high note that left the fans satisfied with Rocky’s journey. It really was a great conclusion to the series that wrapped up everything and had this been the true conclusion then it would of been perfect, but “Creed” came out proving Rocky ain’t done with us, like the tagline for this movie says, “It ain’t over till it’s over.”
Grade: A-
This is more of a pet peeve, but why is it called “Rocky Balboa” and not Rocky VI? I’m a simple guy who prefers having numbers on sequels with or without a subline title.
