Submitted by cinemascope on Sun, 2007-01-21 20:55. :: Cinemascope 5
Movie title:
Rocky Balboa
Starring:
Sylvester Stallone, Burt Young, Milo Ventimiglia, Geraldine Hughes, Antonio Tarver
Directed by:
Sylvester Stallone
Written by:
Sylvester Stallone
Genre:
Sports Drama
Year:
2007
Country:
USA
Language:
English
Runtime:
1 hour 42 minutes
Imdb:
Rating:
Synopsis
Rocky Balboa (Stallone), struggling to cope with the loss of his beloved Adrian, lives out his life running an Italian restaurant and telling old stories of his exploits to patrons. Meanwhile, world heavyweight champ Mason 'The Line' Dixon (Tarver) beats opponent after useless opponent, unable to find a decent competitor to take on, and losing his own credibility with each successive fight. When a sports channel runs a computer simulation of what would happen if Rocky (in his prime) took on Dixon, Balboa wins, prompting Dixon's promoters to offer Rocky a lucrative exhibition match with the champ, and a chance for both men to reclaim some lost pride.
Rocky Balboa (Stallone), struggling to cope with the loss of his beloved Adrian, lives out his life running an Italian restaurant and telling old stories of his exploits to patrons. Meanwhile, world heavyweight champ Mason 'The Line' Dixon (Tarver) beats opponent after useless opponent, unable to find a decent competitor to take on, and losing his own credibility with each successive fight. When a sports channel runs a computer simulation of what would happen if Rocky (in his prime) took on Dixon, Balboa wins, prompting Dixon's promoters to offer Rocky a lucrative exhibition match with the champ, and a chance for both men to reclaim some lost pride.
Review
On paper, the return of a nearly 60 year-old Stallone to this part, and Balboa's return to the ring, seems far-fetched to say the least. But in practice, Stallone as the writer has done a credible job of making this work. He throws every old sports movie cliche into the mix - Rocky takes a young black kid under his week in an attempt to give him some purpose, Rocky teaches his son Rocky Jr a lesson about punching on through life's difficulties, reconciling their relationship in the process, heck, Rocky even adopts a scruffy looking ancient stray mutt and calls him Punch. All this works because the movie has heart - more heart than any movie in recent memory. Rocky Balboa is a movie that wallows in nostalgia, that extols the virtues of never giving up, and crucially, after a 16 year gap, we can now pull for Rocky (and Stallone) as an underdog, rather than the pumped up champion of old. And when that long-awaited montage arrives with forty minutes of the movie to go, and a clearly old and knackered Stallone starts punching the frozen meat and running up those steps to the famous Gonna Fly Now theme by Bill Conti, I defy anyone not to be punching the air (at least on the inside) with pure cinematic enjoyment. An unexpected treat.
On paper, the return of a nearly 60 year-old Stallone to this part, and Balboa's return to the ring, seems far-fetched to say the least. But in practice, Stallone as the writer has done a credible job of making this work. He throws every old sports movie cliche into the mix - Rocky takes a young black kid under his week in an attempt to give him some purpose, Rocky teaches his son Rocky Jr a lesson about punching on through life's difficulties, reconciling their relationship in the process, heck, Rocky even adopts a scruffy looking ancient stray mutt and calls him Punch. All this works because the movie has heart - more heart than any movie in recent memory. Rocky Balboa is a movie that wallows in nostalgia, that extols the virtues of never giving up, and crucially, after a 16 year gap, we can now pull for Rocky (and Stallone) as an underdog, rather than the pumped up champion of old. And when that long-awaited montage arrives with forty minutes of the movie to go, and a clearly old and knackered Stallone starts punching the frozen meat and running up those steps to the famous Gonna Fly Now theme by Bill Conti, I defy anyone not to be punching the air (at least on the inside) with pure cinematic enjoyment. An unexpected treat.
