Movie Review: "Rocky Balboa"
Category: Movies...
Posted Friday, December 22, 2006 at 03:10 PM [GMT-6]

As usual, there are no plot spoilers in the following review.

Rather than dancing around the ring, shadow boxing and playing games, let's come out punching, shall we? Rocky Balboa is manipulative, implausible, derivative, maudlin, and predictable.

It's also surprisingly endearing, well-acted, highly entertaining and -- forgive me, please -- possibly the "feel-good movie" of the year. It's a satisfying conclusion to a movie franchise that many, including me, had written off a long time ago.

Sylvester Stallone doesn't attempt to play anything but his actual age, and while he's definitely on the buff side of 50, it's sometimes one of those "eww, Jack LaLane in a swimsuit" kinds of buff. He also continues to play a character who is supposedly 5' 11" tall, but the camera doesn't lie, Sly. You need to pick shorter leading ladies.

Nevertheless, Stallone turns in an excellent performance, tempering his trademark Italian Stallion 'tude with genuine tenderness and a realistic portrayal of a man who truly believes that what a man thinks about himself is more important than what others think. There's much fodder here for father-son (and, perhaps, father-daughter) discussions about how one defines success. The rest of us can benefit from the "age is just a state of mind" message that underlies Rocky's desire to climb back into the ring one more time.

If you're not able to leave your cynicism at the door, this movie is perhaps not for you. But the rest of you will be happily surprised, I think, at the pleasure of watching Rocky Balboa. I recommend it.

Footnotes

• There aren't any Easter Eggs in the credits, but do at least sit through the footage of various tourists and residents running up the steps at the Philadelphia Museum of Art to re-create on of the most famous scenes in film history.


• This is a fairly family-friendly movie with minimal profanity and toned-down boxing-related violence. Nevertheless, the climactic fight scene might still cause one to wonder why, exactly, two men find it necessary to beat each other's brains out. Well, except for the money, that is.