Rocky Balboa Review

Rocky Balboa Review

At last, the Rocky saga comes to an end. I do not mean this derisively as in “thank goodness it’s over.” I have always enjoyed the rocky films, some more than others, but overall, all six have merit. For the record, I rank them in the following order from best to worst: 1, 2, 6, 3, 5, 4.

Most movies demand the audience suspend disbelief and this movie is no exception. Stallone is clearly too old to step into a boxing ring with any kind of competence. Nevertheless, if you can suspend your disbelief, this is worth seeing.

The plot centers around a computer simulated fight sponsored by ESPN between Rocky Balboa in his prime and the current champion Mason “The Line” Dixon played by Antonio Tarver. This generates a good deal of public interest and leads to a showdown between the two real fighters.

The movie focuses on Rocky the human being and this is a feature of all the good Rocky movies. Some, like Rocky 4 and 3 to some extent, were simple revenge plots of good (Rocky) vs. evil (his opponent). But in the tradition of the good Rocky films, we see a man struggling with life. He is not particularly intelligent, but he has a good heart.

The fight sequence at the end is very good, as are most of the Rocky fight scenes throughout the series and the acting is of good quality as well. Particular note goes to Burt Young who plays Rocky’s brother-in-law Paulie.

OK, let’s face it. No one is interested in boxing any more. Tyson was the last fighter anyone really cared about and what a career gone down the tubes. Tyson in his prime was the best fighter I ever saw, just nudging out Roberto Duran. There are so many boxing federations these days, it’s hard to keep interest in a sport where each weight division has 500 champions. So unfortunately, we have to turn to fiction to find a real people’s champion once more.

Rocky is almost an institution. He has been with us through part or all of four decades. When the first Rocky came out, he inspired a generation of young boys to eat raw eggs, get fit, and talk like a retard, but hey, in my case, who knew the difference anyway? The thing I like best about the character of Rocky is the life lesson that true champions do not always win. True champions follow their heart and maintain their integrity. Winning is certainly nice, and I don’t think anyone would have lived through six of these movies had not Rocky become champion at some stage, but the character’s emphasis on maintaining his center is what makes Rocky worth following.

If you have lived through the first five, this is a must see. If you haven’t seen any of them before, you can live without it. I liked it.

One final note. Only trumpet players like myself will really care about this, but the theme song for this movie blended the original theme music with Maynard Ferguson’s version. Maynard Ferguson, one of the greatest trumpet players ever, did a version of the Rocky music which far outweighed the original in popularity. Since Maynard passed away I do not know who played the trumpet solos for the theme music, but at first I thought it might have been Maynard himself, it was that good. I would like to think the makers of the film wanted to pay tribute to this fantastic musician and song writer who did a great deal to increase awareness of jazz among young people. I could never play Maynard’s rocky because if I tried to sustain those high notes, I would probably suffer a stroke. The guy was a freak and the acknowledgement of Maynard’s version provides a fitting back drop to the end of the Rocky saga.