ROCKY BALBOA REVIEW!! (ROCKY/CREED MARATHON)

Initial release date: December 20, 2006

Studios: MGM/Columbia Pictures/Revolution Studios

Tagline: It ain't over 'til it's over.

Plot: Now long retired, Rocky runs a Philadelphia eatery and mourns the loss of his beloved wife, Adrian. Yearning to recapture a bit of his glory days, he plans to re-enter the ring for a few low-profile, local matches. All that changes when Rocky accepts to fight the world's reigning heavyweight champion, Mason 'The Line' Dixon.

Cast

Sylvester Stallone - Rocky Balboa

Burt Young - Paulie

Antonio Tarver - Mason 'The Line' Dixon

Geraldine Hughes - Marie

Milo Ventimiglia - Robert Balboa Jr.

Tony Burton - Duke

AJ Benza - LC

James Francis Kelly III - Steps

Henry G. Sanders - Martin

Pedro Lovell - Spider Rico

Ana Gerena - Isabel

Writer/director: Sylvester Stallone

Rated PG for boxing violence and some language (102 min)

After getting through the just meh Rocky V, the other night I had the chance to check out the 2006 sequel Rocky Balboa. Now this sequel is the perfect way to end the main Rocky saga and this is how good Rocky V should have been.

The sixth entry of the main series brings back the emotion, which was something that the fifth movie severely lacked. This time around, Adrian has passed away between the fifth and sixth movies and Rocky now owns a popular restaurant named after her in South Philly.

There are some moments where Rocky tries to remember his time with Adrian that can be really emotional and there are a few times where you see him trying to reconcile with his now adult son that can be powerful as well.

The final fight shows that Rocky still has what it takes to have one more round in the ring and in this fight, he's back to being the underdog once again. Sure, having the final fight happen due to a computer stimulation creating a fight between Rocky and current heavyweight champion, in which Rocky wins, can be a little far-fetched. Yet, it does give Rocky a little motivation to see if he still has what it takes to have one more go around in the ring.

Overall, Rocky Balboa is an excellent entry of the saga and wraps up the main series nicely. Catch my full review of Creed III on Wednesday and my takes on Creed and Creed II over the next couple days!!

Here are some interesting little tidbits for Rocky Balboa:

• The film was shot in 38 days. The very first thing to be shot was the fight between Dixon and Rocky. This was done because Stallone's training (which had been going on for six months) had to stop once the film went into production and he began to concentrate on directing. If the fight had been left until the end of the schedule, Stallone wouldn't have been in as good shape as he was at the start.

• Pedro Lovell reprises his role as Spider Rico, the boxer defeated by Rocky in the opening scene of the first film.

• All of the Rocky training scenes in the gym were shot in one 17 hour shoot.

• Stallone said that he decided to make this movie because he was so unhappy with Rocky V because the movie received bad reviews by fans and critics, inaccurate story, poor acting, poor box office, etc. so he decided to make this movie in 1999, but it wouldn't get green-lit until six years later.

• Antonio Traver (the real life heavyweight champion at the time of production training for five weeks prior to the film and had to put on 25 pounds.

• Stallone was actually knocked unconscious while filming the final fight scene.

• Rocky Balboa represents a partnership between MGM, Revolution Studios, and Columbia Pictures (Columbia's corporate Sony Pictures held a 20% stake in MGM at the time). Since the series was originally produced and distributed by United Artists (now MGM's subsidiary studio), the partners jointly decided that the film could and should take advantage of MGM's newly reinvigorated domestic distribution apparatus.

• The film not only finished third in its opening weekend, grossing $12.5 million, but eventually became Stallone's most successful starring role since 1993s Cliffhanger, and the sixth highest grossing boxing film of all time, topped only by the first four Rocky movies, and Million Dollar Baby, and was nominated for a MTV award for best on-screen duo.

• Total US box office receipts were $70 million while the international gross stands at $85.9 million, making for a total worldwide gross of $156.2 million.

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