Movie Review: Rocky Balboa

Like everyone else, when I heard that Sylvester Stallone was making a new Rocky movie, I couldn't help but laugh and feel bad for an aging action star long since left behind by the movie industry. When it came out, I was quite surprised to read many reviews saying it was pretty good. I finally decided to watch it last night ($0.99 on Amazon Unbox, how could I lose?). I watched it partially because a local TV station pretty recently showed the first three films, and immediately after I watched the fourth, so I'm in the mood for the Rock. And you know what? It really was good.

Balboa reminds viewers what the original Rocky was all about. It wasn't about some muscle bound boxer who could pound super-human Soviet fighters into submission with a super-burst of testosterone. It was a personal story of self-respect and not allowing one's circumstances, no matter how poor, dictate who you are. The final film in the series gets back to that. It's not about boxing. In fact, boxing doesn't even show up in the film for the first hour. It's about Rocky the man, who finds himself back where he started and again struggling for that sense of respect and meaning.

In the first film, Rocky was little more than a street thug with a good heart living poor in Philadelphia who was given a chance, as part of a publicity gimmick, to fight the heavyweight champion. To Rocky, it was an opportunity to prove to himself and others that he was more than just a bum, that he was somebody. And he did.

In the last film, Rocky is again back in the old neighborhood. His beloved wife, Adrian, is dead and Rocky is left to carry on with his restaurant, entertaining customers with stories of the old days. He's living in the past. The film begins on the anniversary of Adrian's death and shows Rocky and Paulie going to various sites around the neighborhood that meant something in his relationship with Adrian. The old apartment. The ice rink. The pet shop. He's become a shell of himself, eking out a living, surrounded by images and memories of what he had been. In Rocky IV, Apollo warned Rocky about what would happen when it was all over. Here, we see it.

Despite the sadness and emptiness of his life now, he still has a good heart. He allows Spider Rico, a fighter from the clubs where Rocky got his start and the one Rocky fought at the beginning of the first film, to eat for free in his restaurant as Spider is now a broken-down old man without much money. He bumps into Marie, a kid in the first movie, who's now a single mother in the neighborhood and who has been made to feel worthless, and gives her and her son jobs in the restaurant. And, of course, he still helps Paulie as much as he can.

Finally, Rocky is approached for one last fight, against the champion. Feeling a bit of the old fire in his belly, he agrees, setting the stage for the final bout. This is, of course, where everyone thought things would just get absurd. But they don't. Rocky is a fighter with a broken down body who can't train like he used to because his body just can't handle it.

One of the interesting things is how Rocky's opponent, Mason Dixon, is portrayed. He's not Rocky's enemy or rival, like the opponent in all the films before this one. He's a champion who has never really been tested. There's no one in the boxing world who can truly challenge him, and he knows it. He's an Ali in a world of Tommy Morrisons. He's frustrated by it. He doesn't seem to really enjoy his money and fame because he knows he hasn't really proven anything. (There are two scenes at Dixon's home. In both, we see his entourage and hangers-on in his house watching TV and enjoying his wealth while Dixon is out by himself, watching a reply of a bout in one scene and playing basketball in the other. Not a vision of a man enjoying his success.) So, like Rocky, he has something to prove, to himself if not to the fans. While he goes into the fight with Balboa as a stunt, in that fight he finds himself. Even Rocky commends Dixon after the fight for being a great champion, and having a lot of heart.

There are a lot of parallels between the first and last film. In both Rocky fights the champion as a stunt only to shock everyone and go the distance. In both, Rocky loses, in split decisions. But there's an important difference, one that really does bring the saga to an end. In the first film, Rocky decides he cannot beat Creed, so he lowers his goals a bit to going to the distance against a champion who has never had to. He fulfills that goal, but in doing so shows that he could actually beat Creed. At the end of that fight, Creed is just about out on his feet and is truly saved by the bell. (This makes Rocky's "victory" a bit hollow looking back on it, and sets the stage for II where he must now prove he can carry through on the loftier goal of winning.) At the end of this fight, Dixon and Balboa are furiously exchanging blows, neither beaten. So while Rocky has again gone the distance, there's not a danger that he's again a contender. And Stallone is careful to hinder Dixon a bit (he's not in top shape, he breaks his hand during the fight) so that Balboa is hanging in there against a champion fighting at only partial capacity.

Stallone is not known as a great actor. But he's done his best work in the Rocky series. I always thought III was the best acted of the series, but Balboa takes the crown. He delivers a superb speech to his son that epitomizes everything Rocky is about. And there's a nice scene between Rocky and Marie, who encourages him to not worry about what other people think about the fight, but all that matters is what he thinks. (A statement to all of us who mocked the idea of making the movie? If nothing else, I think it shows how much a labor of love the movie was for Stallone.)

And I have to give props to Stallone as a director, as well. The movie has a great look and feel. Lots of night photography and interesting lighting. Two images at the end of the film stand out to me. The movie ends at Adrian's grave. Rocky leaves some flowers and walks away. The camera stays focused on the flowers and Balboa goes out of focus, but stays in just enough to show him waving good-bye and then fading out. Beautiful ending. And then, after the credits roll (with video of lots of ordinary people running up the museum steps, imitating Rocky), there's a short, quiet shot of Rocky standing standing quietly at the top of the steps, at night, looking out over the city, and then fading to black.

All in all, a very well done film that brings Rocky full circle and provides a touching closure to an enduring character and redeems a series that had long ago fallen away from its original vision.