Film Review: Rocky Balboa (2006)

For all the formulaic theme, Rocky (1976) was one of my favorite underdog-themed film. Even for more than once occasion you'd hear me whistling the infamous tune from the film whenever i felt like i was an underdog bound to a win. Now, thirty years later, when i first heard that Stallone was about to do a sixth sequel to Rocky, my immediate response was, "What?". It just felt like he was trying to grasp a buoy of fame when he was drown in a raging storm. But, of course, when the film opened to a lukewarm positive reviews and doing surprisingly good at the box office, my curiosity aroused.

To be quite honest, my curiosity wasn't at all satisfied. The film was repetitive to its formulaic predecessors. To be quite fair though, this film (if Stallone true to his words that this was the ultimate final Rocky film despite of the box-office success) was a perfect closure to a legacy of a legend. In the original Rocky we see a young unknown working-class immigrant turn into a legend and in this film we see the legend struggle to get from his past after his wife died, and his only son estranged himself from his dad's looming shadow of fame. And it worked. In Rocky II, III, IV, and V, the only thing that i remembered was their respective boxing match. It seems that all the story in the sequels were meant to brought the audiences to a boxing match. In Rocky and Rocky Balboa however, the boxing-match was not a mere means to justify the end.

Some characters (despite Rocky himself of course) returns as well as new faces - who had a considerable screen-time - in the hand of Milo Ventimiglia as Rocky's son and Geraldine Hughes as Marie, Rocky's anchor (not love interest mind you, just an anchor). Note that if Marie become Rocky's love interest, this film wouldn't achieved its status as it is, it could've been worse. But thankfully no, Marie was just there to remind Rocky of what he was back then.

Well, anyway, despite there was a single scene (if you had watched the original Rocky, you'll know the scene) where i cringed and say to myself out loud, "oh, no, don't, don't do that". The film was a OK, like i told you before, it was a perfect closure, a magnificent bow-out from the Italian Stallion.

Anyhow, Stallone also had one franchise on his belt that he wish to resurrect in a similar manner with what Rocky did. A final Rambo sequel, and it was properly named "John Rambo".

My Rating: **/****