Tuesday, 02 January 2007

• 5 reasons to come off your high horse and watch "Rocky Balboa"

  Okay, so it's no Rocky III. It's no Rocky IV, either. But Sylvester Stallone's Rocky Balboa, despite its shortcomings, still is a wonderfully entertaining film no matter how you slice it. At a time when many doubted whether the character would (or could) ever make a plausible return to the big screen following his dreadful 15-year absence since Rocky V, director Stallone pushed on, first producing the critically praised Contender boxing reality show, then revealing tidbits of the Rocky VI script in his short-lived Sly Magazine, and finally hunkering down for the project after getting the green light from MGM in September of 2005.

  

  He'd been disappointed with the fifth and final Rocky installment, which had seen the headstrong pugilist lock heads with a disreputable boxing promoter and duke it out in a street fight with Tommy "The Machine" Gunn. Despite its promising plot, Rocky V seemed a lukewarm ending at best, memorable more for its wasted opportunities than anything else. The adrenaline-pumping montage sequences were great and real-life boxer Tommy Morrison had a memorable turn as Rocky's crackbrained protege, but the rest of movie sagged under stretches of sappy dialogue and cringe-worthy acting (though series stalwarts Stallone, Shire and Young still kept up their end of things.)

  Rocky Balboa is a much better film than its predecessor. It returns us to the world of its older brothers, while simultaneously reminding us time and time again that things have changed and that the Rocky we once knew has grown (old.) It revisits the boxer's illustrious past while introducing a whole new world of rejuvenated legacies and ever-changing relationships. It prides itself in delving into the day-to-day drama of Rocky's older years, while wonderfully harkening back to his magnificent rivalries against Creed, Clubber and Drago. If anything, Rocky Balboa is a tale of opposites. Even the title works as a double-edged sword, at once breaking tradition and, of course, acting as a wonderful bookend to the series. The franchise, it seems, much like the career of the Italian Stallion himself, has finally come full-circle.

   

   

  Adrian's Passing

  Longtime fans of the series know how pivotal a role Talia Shire played as the beloved Adrian in Rocky I through V; Stallone himself has always stressed the importance of the character, citing what he calls "the Adrian factor." It comes as no surprise, then, that her death plays such a huge part in Rocky Balboa. The film even opens with the titular fighter visiting Adrian's headstone, then heading out on a tour of the old haunts: the pet shop, the old apartment, the now-bulldozed skating rink...

   

  

   

   

  The Boxing Commission

  Finally, after all these years, we get to see Balboa butt heads with members of the state boxing commission. Though a similar scene was written and shot for 1985's Rocky IV (and even appeared briefly in the trailer), it ended up on the cutting room floor. The 2006 version finds Rocko once again at odds with a panel of boxing officials who, in spite of Rocky's near-perfect health, refuse to give him a boxing license due to his age.

   

  

   

   

  Adrian's

  Perhaps borrowing a page from the life of retired heavyweight fighter Larry Holmes, Rocky's found a new career as a restaurateur in the years since he stepped out of the squared circle. Lovingly called "Adrian's," the modest restaurant adds an undeniable sense of reality to the script and, fittingly enough, serves as a central hub for much of the film. It is here that Rocky spends most of his quiet retirement, overseeing operations and entertaining customers with anecdotes of bouts long since passed; it is here Rocky first sees the ESPN broadcast "Then and Now," which features a computer-simulated bout between a prime Rocky Balboa and current heavyweight champ Mason Dixon; and it is here that Dixon's promoters meet with the aging ex-champion to propose an eventual matchup between the two.

   

   

  Paulie Returns

  Of course, things just wouldn't be the same without the return of Burt Young as the Italian Stallion's cigar-smoking, beer-chugging, profanity-spewing brother-in-law Paulie. Looking awfully grizzled and even somewhat deranged at times, Young lends an ample amount of humour to the proceedings and, as usual, excels at being the exact opposite of Stallone's ambitious, strong-willed Balboa. Vehemently opposed to Rocky's plans from the get-go, Paulie finally realizes the enormity of the fighter's last great plight just in time to join him ringside along with Rocky's son, Robert, and another familiar face -- Tony "Duke" Evers, Apollo Creed's former trainer.

   

  

   

   

  The Fight

  Rocky's latest opponent doesn't quite possess the innate badass-ness Clubber Lang did in Rocky III, nor the menacing, steroid-enhanced super strength of the Soviet Union's Ivan Drago, but Mason "The Line" Dixon does eventually deliver the goods as the powerful, imposing, arrogant bastard he should be. Likewise, the climactic match between Mason and Balboa is as slick, fast-paced, and visually pleasing as any in the series' history, and the poignant, bittersweet finale will have your tear ducts welling for the first time since a certain wrinkly-assed extraterrestrial found his way home.

   

   

   

  WHAT'S THAT BUZZ?

  "It's actually the best Rocky movie since the original -- a fitting and triumphant final chapter for one of the most iconic characters in the history of motion pictures." -- Richard Roeper, Chicago Sun-Times

   

  "Rocky Balboa is not only the best sequel since Terminator 2 and the best movie of writer-director-star Sylvester Stallone's career, it's one of the best American films of 2006, and the year's most pleasant surprise." -- Jim Hemphill, REEL.COM

   

  "The first four-fifths of the film is a meandering lead-up to the inevitable getting-in-shape montage, run up the steps and a big fight. Up until that point, all Rocky does is talk. And talk. And talk." -- Tom Long, Detroit News

   

  "After a shaky start, the film gradually overcomes our resistance, satisfies our credulity, wins us over and gives us an inspirational high. It had me in tears before it was done, and I'm a tough audience." -- William Arnold, Seattle Post-Intelligencer

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