Rocky Balboa (DVD)

Most people thought it was a joke that this film was even attempted but it reality it was a decent view.

Its more about how his life has evolved and how poor his relationship is with his son and the loss of Adrian.

This film is definitely worth watching and is probably the 3rd best of the films after Rocky 1 and Rocky 4 with Dolph Lundren.

Cinema's favourite slugger takes to the ring for one last dance at the ugly pug brawl. Nostalgic boxing fairytale from Sylvester Stallone
There is only one thing America loves better than a rags-to-riches story and that's a comeback. Sylvester Stallone, who kickstarted his own unlikely success story with Rocky in 1976, plays his Philadelphian Cinderella man for a sixth time in Rocky Balboa.

It has been a rocky journey for fans of the Italian Stallion. As the franchise absorbed the excesses of the ludicrous 1980s, a humble story about a lovable lug lost its way. From the crudely drawn ideas of the black American male's superior sexual potency (yes, Mr T) in Rocky III, the paranoid politics and outré fabulousness of Rocky IV, and the pitiful gasps of a then-dying franchise in Rocky V, it's been a long way down for Philly's favourite son. The world needed reminding of what Rocky is all about and so, at age 60, Stallone goes back to basics.

Rocky Balboa is riddled with references to the original. We first glimpse the retired champ as he wakes alone in his modest house, looks past a picture of wife Adrian (lost to cancer) and feeds Cuff and Link, two turtles the animal-loving pugilist once bought in a characteristic 'Of Mice And Men' moment.

He lumbers from his bed and does a few lazy chin-ups in the yard. The weights have kept him in incredible shape, but the years have not been kind to Stallone's face. It's fitting that an old punchbag like Balboa should sport a grotesque mask; it's less fair that Sly now looks uncannily like his mother, Jackie. The sleek Stallone dwarfed by Dolph Lundgren in Rocky IV has gone, replaced by a thickset mass of slowly moving muscle with hands like bunches of genetically-modified bananas.

If geriatric turtles and a dead wife sound like a slow start, that's the point. Rocky films are essentially exercises in delayed gratification. There's well over an hour of character study - maudlin, wry, always pedestrian - before the first sniff of liniment. Rocky spends his evenings telling fight stories to bored diners in his Italian restaurant. His grown-up son has a job in the city, but resents living in dad's shadow. His curmudgeonly brother-in-law Paulie (Young) is laid off from the meatpacking plant where Rocky once trained.

Meanwhile, the life of current champ, Mason 'The Line' Dixon (Tarver), draws upon the decline of boxing. Barracked by crowds for beating a succession of bums, Dixon is an unhappy man. With lightning quick feet and a fleet of luxury cars, he's the Jay Kay of heavyweight boxing, but he just can't get no respect. If only he could match himself with a fighter who transcended the money and the glamour; a man of the people who took his shot and shook the world. If only...

It takes some ludicrous plotting to get Rocky back in the ring, but if you have a problem with ludicrous plotting, you don't belong in front of a Rocky movie. And the real boxing world can be equally absurd. Just ask George Foreman.

Verdict
On a scale of heavyweight greats, with the first Rocky being Muhammad Ali and Rocky V an embarrassing Danny Williams, Rocky Balboa is roughly an Evander Holyfield. Some knockdowns along the way have slowed things up, but the heart is unquestionable.

When it was revealed that there was going to be a Rocky VI, many naysayers groaned and complained that enough was enough and that Sly was too over the hill and couldn't pull it off. But the TRUE FANS out there knew differently. Even the critics, who initially made skeptical/negative comments about the sixth installment, started turning their stories around after viewing the film in its entirety. Rocky Balboa is a real winner of a movie, that fully realizes the essence of the original classic and brings the saga full circle to a thrilling, emotional, and very memorable conclusion.


Many years have gone by since last we saw Rocky, who is now a widower, estranged from his son and still mourning the loss of his beloved wife, Adrian. There are some truly touching moments of Rocky at the cemetery, sitting by her grave (when I saw the film in theaters, no one in the audience made a sound - even the rowdy ones - during these scenes, out of pure respect for the characters) as well as Rocky's journey, with Paulie, to all the places he took Adrian on their classic first date. So touching.


Now Rocky has his own restaurant, where he greets his customers and regales them with past stories of glory. But deep inside of him is a rage that he must get out of himself and conquer in order to move on with his life. The only way to do that is to go back in the ring. But when a computer simulated match between Rocky and the current reigning heavyweight champion of the world, Mason Dixon, is shown on TV, showing Rocky as the victor, word spreads like wildfire for the real thing.


No Rocky film is complete without a training montage, and this film's got it in spades. Stallone has the character of Rocky so integrated within himself, and gives nothing short of one of his finest performances on screen. Many memorable scenes, including Rocky's long and emotional talk with his son, as well as his new relationship with Marie (the young woman Rocky walked home back in the first installment) make for truly compelling drama. And the climactic fight at the finale is the icing on the cake. It's inspirational and never disappoints for a second.


Rocky Balboa belongs in the collection of every fan (and non-fan alike for that matter) and the DVD is loaded with wonderful bonus features, including Audio Commentary with Stallone, Deleted Scenes, Featurettes, Alternate Ending, and more. Pick this film up and watch it again and again. You'll be happy you did.


Rocky Balboa - a fitting end to the Rocky Saga!


"But it ain't about how hard you hit. It's about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward." - Sylvester Stallone as Rocky Balboa

Stallone’s comeback is the nostalgic pleasure principle in action. Sometimes familiarity breeds contentment, not contempt. Watch Rocky Balboa with a Friday night audience and you’ll feel the buzz. If the multiplexes have become temples of frustrated desire where hype leaves expectation bitterly unfulfilled, Rocky Balboa satisfies because it wants exactly what you want: The Same. Again.

Even the production legend is unoriginal: Rocky (1976) was the movie that nobody wanted a young, ripped Italian Stallion to write and star in; Rocky Balboa (2006) is the movie nobody wanted a knackered old Italian Stallion to write, direct and star in. That’s Stallone: always caught between a Rocky and a hard place, bouncing back off the ropes for one last fight, one last shot, one last chance to make us chant “Rock-ee! Rock-ee! Rock-ee!” again.

“It just wasn’t over,” argues Stallone in the excellent Skill Vs. Will, a featurette that occasionally feels more like a motivational seminar than a Making Of doc. “You think it’s over, then you go back, rehash it in your own mind like an athlete and think: ‘Maybe I just retired too soon.’” You can feel his righteous sense of vindication. Everybody laughed at Rocky Balboa, but it turned out to be the big little movie that could.

Of course, delivering more of the same doesn’t necessarily make Rocky Balboa a great movie. But it doesn’t make it a bad one either, and watched back-to-back with the original, it’s obvious that its strength lies in its skilful resurrection of the spirit of ’76. Time has made Stallone into a lovable loser once more, his Botoxed face, dodgy CV (Driven, D-Tox, need we go on?) and bus pass eligibility despatching him to Palookaville. That’s what makes Rocky Balboa work in spite of all the corn, the rabbit-in-the-headlights performance from Milo Ventimiglia as Robert Jnr or the adolescent graveyard grief over Adrian’s demise. Against all the odds, Stallone and Rocky are underdogs again...
Just as in the original Rocky, the first two thirds of Balboa are a slow-burning warm up, 80 minutes of butterfly float before the bee-sting finale. It’s a deliberate delay of gratification that allows Stallone time to noodle away at the character, the lovable lug, as he spars with Burt Young’s crotchety, cigar-chomping Paulie (“What, you haven’t peaked yet?”), tries to build bridges with his son, or chats up Little Marie (Geraldine Hughes): “Come dance with me, I ain’t that good but I’m probably better than the average bear... Where that came from, I dunno.” Stallone’s dialogue has never been better; it’s worn yet warm, like one of Rocky’s ancient tracksuits. In the blink of an eye, the ghosts of those sequels – Mr T, Drago, the brain damage, the robot maid from Rocky IV – are exorcised. Ignore numbers II to V, Stallone says. All that matters is the beginning and the end.
And then it comes, the moment we’ve been waiting for: the training montage, the steps, the punch into the air, Conti’s horns... and the gradual realisation that you’ve already seen this movie. Rocky won’t win but he won’t lose either – and neither will you.
Watch the clutch of deleted scenes and you’ll see what might have been, an alternate ending that lets the one-time champ save face but lose his big heart; it smacks of studio interference, a safety net designed by people who know nothing about what makes Rocky rock. We’re not here to see him win on points, we’re here to see the triumph of the fighter’s will.

WOW!! What a Terrific Final Rocky Film!!
This is a Great Final Movie of Rocky Balboa showing he Never Gives Up and Never Stops Believing!
Sylvester Stallone does this Film Proud, showing he still has what it takes and Displaying a Fine Body for a man of his age! Who would have thought this Movie would Work?? Well it does although many would argue the film is slow to start. On the other-hand its my Opinions this film is great from Start to Finish.
This Film is all about Rocky looking back over his life and the Fun Times he had with his now deceased wife. Rocky decides to come out of retirement and get back into boxing on a somewhat less professional level. Rocky is publicized on TV in a virtual Boxing match with the now Champ Mason Dixon. Mason is then led to challenge Rocky in a Charity Exhibition. Rocky now needs his Sons blessing and all the help from his Family and his long lost friends. With the Odds against him, this is going to be the Greatest Boxing Fight in history!!
A Great Film and a Definite DVD to add to your Rocky Collection.
All Rocky Films will live forever!!
Well Done Stallone!!

It's been 17 years since Rocky last laced up his gloves, but you can't keep a good franchise down, and here he is again for a sixth and (hopefully) final instalment. We're all thinking the same thing here, right? "Sylvester, this is an incredibly stupid idea. An arthritic, sexagenarian boxer mixing it up with a modern heavyweight champ in Vegas? You're crazy." Still, if you can swallow that particular whopper, the rest of the film goes down easy.

Writing and directing again, Stallone has sensibly steered Rocky Balboa away from the excesses of the later sequels, and back to the low-key sweetness of his Oscar-winning original. Sadly, there's no Adrian for Rocky to yo at: apparently she popped her clogs after Rocky V. Who can blame her? Punch-drunk with grief, Rocky wanders through his life like a man half-asleep, reciting old boxing stories to the clients of his shabby Italian restaurant. He feels alienated from his son, but forms a platonic bond with a weary-eyed waitress. And so on. The film meanders along this path for a long, slow while, a primitive soap opera dressed up as street poetry. At least Stallone's performance is fun: he seems to create his own dopey world of beefcake chivalry, like Jimmy Stewart on steroids.

"A PRIMITIVE SOAP OPERA DRESSED UP AS STREET POETRY"

Anyway, the plot finally kicks in when some smart aleck creates a computer simulation that suggests Rocky could beat the reigning world champion. The gauntlet thus thrown down, Rocky does his familiar training routine - drinking raw eggs, chin-ups on his zimmer frame - while the rah-rah theme tune pounds away. The fight itself is shot in the style of a lavishly promoted TV exhibition match, degenerating slowly into an impressionistic mess of blood and gumshields. Stallone, we should admit, is not a bad director. Rocky, on the other hand, is a terrible boxer, but he just won't go down. This, finally, seems to be the masochistic moral behind the whole franchise: forget talent, it says. Forget youth and money and brains. None of those matter, as long as you can take a thrashing and come back for more. Men, eh?

Just finished watching this film.

To be fair I had low expectations with it bein a rocky film but its actually pretty good, sly puts in a good emotional display and the film is quite a warm film - maybe one to watch with the family

All in all I would recommend it - well worth 2 hours or so of you life :)

This film,it gives closure to a franchise that i have enjoyed for the last 30 years,i have grown up watching this guy,and this film,well i think this is his best one so far.
Over the years,we have seen this guy at the bottom of the pile,fall in love,beating the best,having the lot,then losing everything,so his journey has become our journey.
Sly Stallone, has for me kept me entertained all my life,his action films,good or bad,but this last rocky film,it`s a touching,and fitting tribute to a legacy,we have grown to love,and many of us who have,after watching a rocky film,gone upstairs and beaten the crap out of your pillow,no just me then.
personaly this is his way of saying,thats it,especially the very end of the film,you sought of stop and think about it.
I think after the very poor Rocky 5,bad reveiws,and just a very poor film in my opinion,sly was not getting the films so much in the 90`s,and his films were getting tiring for some.And to me,this was his way of saying, i got one more rocky in me,we need to close this thing and close it right,and he has done just that.

gonna fly now........

i've always been a fan of the rocky franchise & this has to be one of the better ones. You get 45 mins into it before you see any action but never fret because the acting alone holds its own, with some of the most tear jerking scenes i've scene.
Then the fight. And what a fight it is. Brilliantly choreographed and will have you wanting more and more. It didn't turn out the way i wanted, but hey, you cant have it all can you?
I'd give this one an 8/10

Rocky still gets the lood pumping still makes you want to be a boxer ,this is good old school movie at its best.STILL CHEESEY ,still predictable but still

stallone delivers quality! decided to buy it because it is arocky film why else

This is an excellent film to watch.If you a rocky fan then i recommend it to watch..i love this film..

This time we step into Rocky’s life well after his boxing career has finished and he’s proudly running an Italian restaurant in Philadelphia called Adrian's. He seems perfectly content with the way things are, and talking to his customers about some of the great moments back in his boxing years is about as close as he gets to the ring these days. His son is also quite distant now. He’s eager to shake off the fame aspect of his father’s life because he feels it has only had a negative effect on him growing up.

“It doesn't matter how this looks to other people. If this is something you gotta do, then you do it. Fighters fight.”

It becomes more and more obvious that Rocky still has something left bubbling inside of him, something left to prove, something to show that he’s not afraid of getting back up and facing whatever it is that has knocked him down and after watching a computerised simulation fight between himself and the latest title holder on T.V. his fists only become more twitchy. His interest is not really in winning, but just getting up there and doing what he loves.

Since Rocky actually wins the simulated fight it’s not long before the current champions promoters approach Rocky at his restaurant to pitch a fight between the two of them and despite a lack of encouragement from some of his loved ones Rocky decides to take up the offer and gets himself back into training. As usual its not difficult to take sides with Rocky and start spurring him on as he runs up those famous steps of the Philadelphia Museum of Art and begins to faces his final demons.

Another inspirational performance from Stallone, although not the best Rocky in my opinion definitely worth watching and much better way of ending the Rocky legacy than Rocky V.

A good entertaining film suitable for family viewing, the Italian stallion in his sixties still manages to put up a good fight.

I was mildly pessimistic about this film. Although the original Rocky is an epic, the series slowly degenerated as it went on till it was nearly unwatchable by Rocky V. Plus with Sly's age I feared that they would have to install a stairlift ringside in order to get Mr Balboa over the ropes. But I was pleasantly suprised and this is reminiscent of the first film in many ways; the warm dialogue, the unassuming likeable main character, the simple struggle of good over bad.

As time has moved on significantly from the first film so has Rocky's surroundings. This time around we find the main man earning a living by quietly running a restaraunt, the former heavyweight champ now playing the celebrity card recounting his former bouts to diners as they eat. Rocky's son is now grown up (although with considerable issues about being the offspring of someone famous) and his wife is still in his heart but firmly six foot underground. Rocky's rogue Brother In Law Paulie is stll around, still working in 'that' bovine slaughterhouse. So essentially although different it's still all basically set up for more of the same; the story of a nice self believing but unassuming guy taking it all the way to the top. Essentially the film follows Rocky as he comes out of retirement, gets a dog called 'Punchy' and is generally nice to everyone that deserves someone being nice to them along the way.

Yes it's clichéd, yes its formulaic, slightly predictable and, because of the similarity to the first film, it smacks highly of deja vu, but Rocky Balboa is a worthy watch regardless.

I've loved every single Rocky film even Rocky 5, before i went to watch this film, i saw all 5 films 2 days before, just to get the rocky spirit going.

So if you are a fan of the Rocky films. I mean a real fan- if you have seen Rocky I-V you will love this film. I watched it in the cinema and left with goose bumps, a true inspirational story, and a great ending for all the fans of the franchise.

No Big budget junk, this films like the others is a great story of Rocky Balboa, how he copes with life after boxing. The great thing about this film is that it was made for the fans this will not bring new fans to the Rocky saga but will be an absolute gem for any true fan of the original films.

I Have been a rocky fan all my life and i have seen a dozen times all rocky films, own the dvd's and the merchandizing stuff (t-shirts etc).
Rocky Balboa was almost perfect. A Great storyline which ends the rocky franchise as it should be. With rocky in the ring. The movie had a lot of touching scenes and a lot of emotions. It was good to see spider rico and little marie back after 5 sequels as well.

DVD EXTRAS:
Audio Commentary by Sylvester Stallone
Skills Vs Will: The Making of Rocky Balboa
Reality in the Ring: Filming Rocky's Final Fight
Boxing Bloopers
Deleted Scenes
Alternate Ending

Overall, this is a fitting end to the Rocky franchise!

It's about how hard you can get hit!!!

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"It ain't over 'till it's over", says Rocky in this the final film of the Rocky series.

Stallone, who has aged like a fine but 'rough' wine gives a tremendous performance. There is a poignancy and a touch of sadness underpinning Rocky's final attempt to be the fighter that he is.

His character throughout the series of films, has captured the hearts of and inspired so many people to believe in themselves and their own abilities. In this film he again presses this message towards those of us who are the wrong side of 50. But then, there is not a 'wrong side' to being a mature age, and Rocky Balboa leads the way and shows us the truth of this and finally the way to personal triumph.

It was a fitting end!.

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i have always been a rocky fan, never got a chance to see it at the cinema, so glad to get my hands on it and watch it , great film

ONCE AGAIN A GOOD FILM TO ALL THE OTHER ROCKY FILMS AND SADLY IT IS SAPOSED TO BE THE LAST. WELL I HOPE ITS NOT. ONCE AGAIN GOOD MUSIC AND A GOOD STORY LINE. A MUST HAVE FOR ALL ROCKY FANS. IF ITS THE FIRST TIME OF SEEING A ROCKY FILM THEN IT WILL MAKE YOU GO OUT AND BUY THE REST IM SURE.

This film is ok, its not the best but its not the worst either.

I like the way it brings all the other Rocky films to a close but think the story line needed a little work. Seeing Sylvesta Stallone drop back into the role as Rocky Balboa was intresting after so many years. Seeing him fight in this latest film detracted away from the other films.

i like the way the ebayer emailed me and sent as soon as they could and the film was poor but the the disc and case were brand new. My ratings go to the ebayer as they were brilliant and i will be doin business again with them.

I watched this film because there was nothing else on tv at the time.I must admit that I'm not a fan of the rocky series of films so it was an undertaking to decide to watch it.However this film is unexpectedly brilliant with alot more feeling for the characters, the only down side is stallone's dodgey plastic surgery.