REVIEW: Rocky Balboa

He's back!!! Can you freakin' believe it!! After all these years the Italian Stallion is back on your screens in a film that got more hype than it had any right to do. I was genuinely excited to see this movie and its trailer, with THAT theme music, got me running to the Rocky boxset to watch back and be totally ready for this next opus.

One thing you tend to forget and I'm sure something a few did forget on the months leading up to this film's release, is that the original Rocky, the underdog tale to end them all written in three days by a broke young actor and made on a relative shoestring, is actually a quite superlative movie. Not just from the standpoint of nostalgia or purely through letting yourself be swept up in the whirlwind of inspirational music and heart wrenching story. It genuinely is a true classic. Stallone himself is wonderful in the title role and never less than charming throughout the series. But that first really is a lesson in pacing, storytelling, acting and gritty romance. Those first dates with Adrienne are touching and sweet, Stallone imbuing the scenes with a lunkheaded charm.

Rocky Balboa isn't quite in the league of that wonderful movie but it is far, far better than could have been expected. It's certainly no masterpiece of writing as Stallone piles every loose end of the series into one movie but there is one thing driving this film through: Passion. Every scene you see the love Stallone and everyone around has for this character, a hard headed champion of people whose good grace and street smarts have seen him through much. The plot itself is fairly useless. Its only real purpose is to facilitate that final climactic battle for Rocky but dammit if by the end you aren't cheering along. Its charming and flawed but its hard nosed determination and spirit pull it through to make a thoroughly enjoyable film. "Ro-cky!! Ro-cky!!".

Film: Rocky Balboa
Director: Sylvester Stallone
Writer: Sylvester Stallone
Platt Movie Rating: 7.9/10