24.12.06 – By Adrian Saba: Yesterday, mentally prepared to be disappointed, I watched Rocky VI, or Rocky Balboa. Apparently, it is the last part of the notable and sometimes tarnished Rocky saga. I was misteriously relieved after watching the first minutes, mainly because I had been waiting for that film during two years, and also after reading some familiar names from the prequels: obviously Sylvester Stallone as the affable and noble boxer from Philadelphia, Burt Young and the risible and angry Paulie and Tony Burton as the loyal trainer Duke. Other actors involved in this movie are Geraldine Hughes as Marie, Milo Ventimiglia as Robert, James Francis Kelly III as Steps and, of course, former Light Heavyweight Champion Antonio Tarver as the Undisputed Undefeated Heavyweight Champion: Mason “The Line” Dixon..
I must accept that I expected a fiasco. For me, the Rocky saga had been decreasing it’s quality in a progressive way. The original film of 1976 was a classic, a tremendous and inspiring movie. It’s sequel was good, it was a vital part to complete the story and kept the atmosphere of the first one, then it had a pretty accomplished training sequence and a shocking finale. I still think that Rocky-Apollo II is the best fight of the complete saga.
Rocky III lost that “aura” from the original two films, but it presented us much more action, entertainment, a brilliant antagonist in Clubber Lang and a great training sequence. Rocky Balboa had apparently peaked and regained the title, the saga was complete. No. In 1985, Rocky IV came out. This new film brought us good fun, probably more than the previous one, but it was exaggerating in many ways: Apollo dying in an exhibition against a debutant, changing the Philadelphia stairs for a snow mountain in Siberia, the most unrealistic fight, involving the Cold War, etc. It was carnivalesque, an orgy of exaggerations, an extravagant fiesta. It was alright just for fun, but it lost the true meaning of the first movie. Rocky V (1990) tried to bring us again that meaning, but failed. That one sucked.
“Rocky Balboa” was a dignified way of ending the story. It was a fast, agile movie that bombards the viewer with touching scenes, precise dialogues, some good performances and the typical “Rocky” humour. It was a return to the basics: few boxing fights, more acting and a better display of human interaction and values. At the beginning I didn’t want to watch an ancient Rocky, but I had to get used to that. Life is like that, you can’t refuse aging.
The numerous flashbacks that this movie showed were something that I enjoyed. Also the characters from previous movies (specially Marie and Spider Rico) and all the references from the other movies; for example, the turtles. This movie can be quite interesting to boxing fans because they can remember anecdotes from real-life fighters. I remembered Jack Dempsey, Larry Holmes, George Foreman and even Roy Jones. The ferocious presence of Mike Tyson was an unexpected “dessert” that made me chuckle. And, how can someone forget? Antonio Tarver. He did good. I had anticipated a failure in his performance as a Heavyweight Champion, but he was fine. I’m sorry that things didn’t go well this year in his real boxing career, but he was a good adversary in the film and I celebrate that and he deserves and applause. So congratulations to Tarver.
The final confrontation is different to the ones from the other movies. In this case, it was original, fresh and amusing. Fans of boxing will find it funny and familiar because they are used to all that. It is similar to a veridical HBO Pay-Per-View. The entrance, the presentations, Larry Merchant, Jim Lampley, Michael Buffer, etc. The music during the fight deserves a mention: it was great and made me remember Rocky II. Something curious is that the climax of the film is not reached in the actual fight between Rocky Balboa and Mason Dixon. It goes beyond that, and not even the decision is important. What is important is what Rocky feels, his heart after everything ends and he is, once again, in the spotlight. The announcement of a decision was never so unimportant as in that fight. Never the words “And Still…” were so insignificant.
The end of the movie made me sad, which was also something that I expected. Watching the conclusion of this 30-year adventure leaves a void to all Rocky fans. I think it was one of the best endings of all the saga, maybe the third best. Only the ending of Rocky (“Adrian!”) and Rocky II (“I did it!”) were better, in my opinion. The whole movie was not the best and not the worst of the saga. As I said, it was a honorable way of ending it. I loved the final part, the credits…it was a good way to counterattack the nostalgy of the ending. The kids running in the famous stairs. That was memorable, a nice detail.