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ROCKY BALBOA

With Sylvester Stallone, Burt Young, Antonio Tarver, A.J. Benza
Directed by Sylvester Stallone

Stallone managed to give one of his most famous characters (and a cinematic legend) a dignified epilogue after it was threatened to careen off the rails on the road to sequel hell.
With championship glory distant memory and the love of Rocky’s life, Adrien, passed on, the man runs a small Philadelphia restaurant where his accomplishments of the past are kept alive on a very small scale with the patrons via first hand tales from the ring. Leading a relatively solitary life, it’s a lonely day to day grind.
When a TV sports show’s computerized match-up of fighters from the past with current warriors of the ring, all stats considered, Rocky is touted to beat the current world champion! With flagging popularity and the insult of the hypothetical defeat, the champ’s agents decide it would be a great exhibition to have the two men step into the square circle for real. Rocky goes for it and his old age forces him to depend on hard-hit training as opposed to slick technique, slowly getting in shape.
The Rocky threads get tied up as many of the locations are revisited, a secondary character (little Marie) all grown up, also worked into the story, as well as Balboa’s estranged son.
Bill Conti is again onboard with the epic soundtrack (the original Rocky soundtrack also got a 30th Anniversary re-release). While this last chapter in the Rocky saga is unlikely to match its original’s Oscar moments which included three wins (snubbing Taxi Driver for Best Picture, as well as -Director & -Editing) and nominations (Stallone’s screenplay and sound), it places an admirable bookend to one of the best known sporting saga’s in cinema history.
Extra features: audio commentary, Behind-The-Scenes and Making-Of Featurettes, bloopers, deleted scenes, and an alternate ending.

4 / B
- PB


1 2 3 4 5 6
A - B - C


click below for the Rocky soundtrack



6 - Volcanic
5 - Blistering
4 - Hot
3 - Smolder
2 - Room Temp.
1 - Fizzled
0 - Extinguished

A: Multiple Viewing Potential
B: Deserves Another Look
C: Once Should Suffice

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