Although it was once considered among some as the king of all sports, boxing has lost a great deal of both its thunder and luster of recent. From corruption to mediocre champs, the sport that once captivated the world through the likes of Rocky Marciano, Joe Louis, Muhammad Ali, Joe Frazier, and George Foreman devolved through the Mike Tyson era, splintered into various governing associations, and is now populated with boxers few ordinary Joes can name.
The same holds true for boxing pics. Aside from "Million Dollar Baby" that was about a female boxer, the likes of "Raging Bull" and the first "Rocky" film have seemingly long since thrown in the towel to other sports genre flicks. All of which has left old school boxing fans with only two recourses, archival footage of the great fighters, and those imaginary bouts pitting former champions from different eras, but at the height of their game, fighting each other in a theoretical battle to see who's the best of all time.
That's part of the catalyst behind the George Foreman-esque decision of the title character to come out of retirement in "Rocky Balboa." Yes, it's that Rocky, and yes, this is essentially "Rocky VI," the not so eagerly anticipated follow-up to the 1990 debacle that was installment number five.
Upon hearing this film was being made, my initial reaction was that I'd rather step into the ring sporting Dumbo-sized ears to take on Tyson rather than sit through what would surely be a fiasco. After all, just like the sport it mirrored, the series featuring the stuffy nose-sounding pugilist from Philly was once great, became mediocre, and eventually was nothing but a shadow of its former self, and something of a joke at that.
And considering that its returning star would be sixty years of age upon its release certainly didn't help matters. Even Foreman -- in the midst of grill mania -- was only 38 when he came out of retirement and only lasted into his mid-forties. Nevertheless, and reportedly upset about how part five turned out (he directed all but this and the first one, both of which were helmed by John Avildsen), Stallone set out to set things straight and finally put this character to rest for the final time (although that was the promise with the last film).
Thus, I watched the film anticipating boredom, repetitiveness and the feeling that it might make me long for part V since the films have followed a downward spiral after the Oscar winning start to the series. Having seen the film, I'm happy to report I was wrong, and in a big way.
Easily the second best of the series, and returning to much of what made the first film such a crowd favorite, Stallone as writer, director and star has crafted a surprisingly engaging and entertaining character-driven film that nicely closes the chapter -- one hopes -- on the longstanding series and character. Now, don't get me wrong, it's no Oscar contender, but it clearly knows when to pull its punches and when to deliver the requisite knockout blows.
Rather than making his sexagenarian some sort of comic book style superhero, Stallone has some gentle fun somewhat mocking himself and his character, as well as the overall cinematic legend. Yes, he may go to the flashback well once too often (to give us views of Talia Shire, Burgess Meredith and others from the Rocky pantheon), but that's obviously an attempt -- and a mostly successful one at that -- to tie this film back to the first and thus erase connections to the immediate predecessors.
For all of the mocking he's endured throughout his career and his less than stellar track record at picking films, Stallone can act (see the first "Rocky" and yes, "Rambo" film, not to mention "Copland"). He certainly reprises his most beloved character with ease and makes him endearing to one and all, even if events in the past films (the near blindness, the brain damage) have been overlooked here (maybe that's the old age kicking in).
Thus, while the plot and character arcs are both familiar and predictable (Rocky overcoming the odds, Burt Young doing his shtick again, Geraldine Hughes stepping into an Adrian sort of supportive role without the romance, the training montage, etc.), the film -- for the most part -- works surprisingly well.
With just the right touch of self-deprecating humor, heartfelt nods to the past, a solid performance from Stallone, a still incredibly powerful signature score by Bill Conti ("Gonna Fly Now" still gets the old goose bumps going) and a surprisingly engaging bout at the end, "Rocky Balboa" goes the distance. And by following in the original film's footsteps of proving it's the journey and not the outcome of the bout that's important, the result is mostly satisfying cinema. Probably the biggest positive surprise of the year, the film rates as a 6.5 out of 10.
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