Another Rocky movie?! Say it ain't so!!

Cafe Society
21

I just got back from the movie. It was pretty good. Probably number 4 on my list of Rocky’s (3, 2, 4, 6, 1, 5). Stallone can still pull off Rocky pretty well. When he finally gets in the ring you can tell his body has started aging. He looks like a white raisin.

For those that don’t want any plot points given away Ill continue my review (SPOILERS) below:

There is virtually no boxing in the movie. It’s alot like the first one in that respect. The fight is not very long and it’s not the focus of the movie.

There’s not a substantial training montage.

There is really no bad-guy in this movie as there was in all of the others. People don’t like the current champ but he doesn’t come across as mean or anything. They barely miss getting cheesy by using the sleezy boxing promoters need for green, but they avoid that by not showing them too much.

Adrian is dead.

Rocky does not die, or come close to dying in this movie.

You won’t hear Eye of the Tiger in this movie. That didn’t even come until 3 did it? I never understood why it was always associated with Rocky 1.

My 3 year old has been chanting “Rocky, Rocky” non stop for the last hour though. He said he liked Rocky but he had blood on him.

All in all I could have waited for the DVD but wanted to take my son to see it in the theater like I saw Rocky 3.

22

Stinkpalm! Did you just rank Rocky 1 as the FIFTH BEST ROCKY!? My brain is about to explode. You will be charged for the clean-up.

23

Clubba Lang was the best opponent. Hands down. Rocky 2 was definitely more fun thatn Rocky 1.

24

But Rocky 1 is actually GOOD. Rocky 2-4 are doog. Rocky 5 is like being stabbed in face with a meat thermometer.

(and for my money, you can’t beat Ivan Drago. Clubber Lang is a close, close silver medalist)

25

2 was actually pretty good. But what most people don’t seem to see (IMO) is that what makes it good is Carl Weather’s performance as Apollo Creed getting obsessed with defeating Rocky. He stole that show right under Stallone.

26

Lord Ashtar- I too wonder why his real son is not in this one- he was clearly the best actor in Rocky V.

27

I also saw the preview and I’ll say this: “Stallone can act.” Rocky talks a lot in this movie, but it’s good, solid, meaningful stuff. Rocky’s not a saint, just a guy who doesn’t understand the world except that it took things away from him and made him old. The Heroes kid does pretty good, and the final fight is quite fun and fairly believable for what it is. It was what I expected and I still was highly entertained and drawn in, blue-collar training sequence and all.

This weekend I’m gonna go see it back-to-back with Casino Royal…now THAT should get the testostrone flowing! Hmm…Daniel Craig Bond vs. in-his-prime Rocky? Who wins?

28

Last night I went to my local “arthouse” theater to see Apocalypto.

Hello, what’s this?

“One for Rocky, please!”

This movie was definitely more like “I” than III or IV, and don’t forget that “II” plodded along a bit, also.

But, like in the others, Stallone has some great lines, and some small throwaway lines that just make his character totally believeable.

I liked when he was picking out the dog with the kid. The kid was trying to be a tough guy, “call him Fleabag.”

Rocky: Fleabag? Yeah, all right. That’s kind of funny. . .not really original. I bet you can do better than Fleabag, though.

Stallone is pretty good at times. The scene where he broke down in the meat packing plant with Paulie was better than De Niro breaking down in Goodfellas. Of course, that’s one of De Niro’s worst moments in his history.

Great closing credits.

So, anyway. . .the movie wasn’t great. The first 45 minutes sort of plod along, then in the second 45 minutes about 5 mini-plots get resolved (most with a single cut). So, it’s sort of dragging, but hey. . .Sly gives you what you want at that point.

If you don’t want to get up and start throwing punches when “Gonna Fly Now” kicks in, well, what are you doing seeing a Rocky movie?

Lots of homage to the earlier movies. Definitely a movie for the fans. He even tosses in a “yo Adrian”.

Anyway, not what I send a non-Rocky fan to, but if you liked I-IV, you’re not going to be disappointed. And, I actually think this is going to be better in the theater than at home. . .I know that the girls in front of me got misty at the movie. There was a kid there with his dad, and walking out after the movie, the kid was. . .well, I don’t want to spoil anything.

My Rocky order:

III-IV-VI-I-II. . . . . .V

Yeah, “I” has its charms, but it’s tougher to watch nowadays. III and IV are definitely more entertaining, better villains, better montages. The training montage in IV is the best out of all movies. Besides, I was 3 when “I” came out. I was like 11 & 13 when III & IV came out, so sue me.

29

Oh, and for those of you wondering how a 60 year old Rocky could believably get in the ring with the current heavyweight champion of the world:

HUGE SPOILER:

The champ breaks his hand in the first round.

30

Who will play Bullwinkle?

:smiley:

31

Here’s something technically wrong about the fighting in the movie.

HUGE spoiler. I mean it. So huge, I’m previewing to make sure I have my tags correct.

[spoiler]All of the scores come in at 95-94. That’s the score of a fight when they have “A” winning 5 rounds 10-9, and “B” winning 4 rounds 10-9, and one round 10-8.

But there was at least 4 knockdowns in the fight, and when there’s a knockdown, that round is always scored 10-8. The final score should have been something like 94-92. There were too many points awarded in the fight.
[/spoiler]

32

Damn, now I need to see the movie just so I can read the spoilers about the fight scenes. I bet my wife makes me see “Apocalypto” first.

33

I’m still not buying it.

34

Well,

Rocky really does get the shit beaten out of him for 10 rounds, and he barely beats the count in round one. He didn’t look too good in there.

35

Ooooo. Rocky VI wouldn’t like that.

He’d tell you, **pravnik[b/], you used to be a man. You didn’t back down when someone stuck a finger in your face. The only test of a man in this world is not how hard he can hit, but how he acts when he gets hit hard. Time to see Rocky.

36

Is there really anything left to explore in this character anymore? Isn’t this exactly the same story as the original? I get it… heart and sheer will power can sometimes overcome even the steepest odds.

Who doesn’t like a story about an underdog succeeding against all odds? Rocky I wasn’t original in this idea, but it did at least bring an original personality to the screen. But to do it 5 more times with the same character? Bah. No thanks. Rocky II was at least a study in how each man dealt with defeat. Rocky III showed how he dealt with success and how material sucess wasn’t really what he was after. Rocky IV was… well, just Rocky I all over again, only worse. I never saw Rocky V. I just can’t see this one showing anything unique or interesting about this character that we don’t already know.

37

Rocky I was great; all the others sucked to one degree or another, IMHO. If the reviews of this latest one are all boffo, I might see it. But probably not. He’s just too damned old, and seems to be grasping at straws to revive his career. He’s even gonna make another Rambo movie. :rolleyes: Enough already. Let it go, Sly.

38

If nothing else, this is a much better bookend for the franchise than V was.

I don’t think of Stallone that way.

I mean, that was sort of one of the themes of this movie, but I get the impression that Stallone is pretty happy with who he is and what he’s accomplished. He’s strikes me as more introspective than most other actors, and not a guy who thinks he’s above the muscle-head he’s played in everything from Rocky to Cobra to Rambo to Judge Dredd.

He had a pretty entertaining interview on NPR a couple weeks back. You can probably find it on their site, if interested.

39

saw some pics from the movie and Rocky don’t look so bad to be 60

40

I saw this today… and it’s really not that bad. It helps that I went in with low expectations, certainly. Definitely not the worst movie I’ve seen this year, and it had more than enough going for it to make it worth the watch. Very much a “3 out of 5” kind of movie, IMO.