As a long time fan of the Rocky series, I was dismayed at the thought that the pathetic 199x Rocky V was the last in the series. Sure, I can get the ideas behind it, but it just didn’t do the story or the characters justice.
Here we are, 2007 and a 50-something Rocky Balboa is back… Running a restaurant, mourning his wife, trying to have a relationship with his son… until a computer simulation shows a Balboa in his prime leveling the current champ who is about as popular as Mike Tyson with even more rape charges.
Enough of the old cast is back, Creed’s former trainer, Paulie, and even the girl who cursed Rocky for walking her home as a kid. If there was ever a swan song for the Rocky saga, this most certainly was it. I haven’t cheered for a character in a film this muchy since… Rocky leveled the Russian in Rocky IV.
There’s no hiding Stallone / Rocky’s age, at 62 years old he’s still solid and could probably show the veritable Terminator, Arnold Swarzenegger a few things. I sure as hell wouldn’t get into a ring with him.
Check it out, *****.