Rocky Balboa [Blu-ray]
![Rocky Balboa [Blu-ray]](/images/Rocky-Balboa-Blu-ray-B000N3AXQU-L.jpg)
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Jim Lampley, Leroy Neiman, Michael Buffer, Talia Shire, Tony BurtonBrand: Sony
Blu-ray: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Subtitled); French (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled); English (Original Language); French (Dubbed)
Format: Anamorphic, Color, Dolby, Subtitled, Widescreen
Picture Format: Anamorphic Widescreen, 1.85:1
Running Time: 102 minutes
Blu-ray Release Date: 2007-03-20
Audience Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Studio: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
Movie Reviews of Rocky Balboa [Blu-ray]
Movie Review: A HUGE Surprise! This movie is terrific! Sorry, Haters :(
Summary: 5 Stars
Back in July, soon after this film was announced, I happened upon this page and found a review (yes, a review, six months prior to the release of the film and before a trailer was even officially released) trashing this film. This is nothing new at Amazon: people bashing things they have not seen because they did not like a previous film, the actor in it, or just think the movie looks bad or is somehow a bad idea. I wrote a response - not a review of the film, but a response to the insulting review that the writer thought was so clever (yeah, as if making fun of a "Rocky" sequel is both original and clever) - in which I urged people like this to wait until the film is released before they write such things. I said the movie may or may not suck, but wait and see it first. Maybe that day I was just fed up with seeing premature reviews that can not actually be trusted by Amazon readers popping up everywhere. But the good news is that reviewer and all the scoffers can get ready to eat their words. Not only was "Rocky" a terrific movie in my opinion, but the critics love it too. Over at rottentomatoes.com, the movie review website that comes up with an average score for a film based on all the reviews from the nations top 200+ critic, "Rocky Balboa" is at 80%, meaning out of those critics' reviews, 80% have been favorable. This may sound like no small feat, but for a movie that everyone laughed off and seemed doomed from the start - at least from a critical perspective - it is damn good. Actually, it is damn good by any standard. 80% actually places it among the better reviewed movies of there year (critics don't like quite a few movies - 80% and above is a somewhat elite bunch).
See MCW; should have waited...
But forget all that. Those stats are really just semantics. The real question is, will fans and non fans alike be able to be swept up again by Rocky after all these years and a few rote sequels that have diminished the memory of the original, and just how great and effective a film it was?
The answer is a resounding and surprised 'YES!' And the reason why: Sylvester Stallone. As writer, director, and star - and the guy hanging it all on the line - mainly meaning his dignity if this thing is the flop most people are waiting to see - this movie is all his. That this movie inspires and excites and entertains to such a large, unexpected degree, means the kudos then should be all his as well. All of Rocky's speeches in the film about life hitting hard, having to hit back, how many hits can you take and keep comin', doing what is right for you, listening to your heart become a huge metaphor for Stallone and his reviving of this character. I won't spoil Rocky's outcome in the film's main event, but Stallone himself wins big by following those credos.
Confession time: I am not a huge "Rocky" fan. I remember loving the first one, but it has been years since I have seen it. I hated the last two and the first two sequels were okay at the time when I was a young kid, but seem pretty much a relic of their time to me now. Also I am a jaded-as-hell movie-goer when it comes to underdog sports movies. They are all the same and I can not think of one, supposedly inspirational, spots flick that ever affected me. (This does not include movies like "Million Dollar Baby" (one of my all time favorites), and the like in which a sport in the film is secondary to the actual story being told. I'm talking about all these interchangeable underdog flicks that we forget which one is which as soon as a new one comes out which, in the last year and a half alone includes "Invincible," "Gridiron Gang," "We Are Marshall," "Glory Road," "Coach Carter," "Miracle," "Friday Night Lights," "The Rookie," and so many more I couldn't possibly name them all. Come on, admit it; even if you are a sucker for these kinds of films - and I'm not saying they are all bad, some are good, just that there are too many of them and they are all usually similar and uninspired - you know they all play the same card the same way. The sad thing is we have great, old-school sport films like "Rocky" and "Hoosiers" to thank for this ungodly influx of these films.)
Watching the new "Rocky" film, I may have figured out why these movies always leave me so cold, beyond the fact that they are all so similar. I never felt like I knew any of the cookie-cutter characters in most of those films (I knew them as caricatures from dozens of like movies, but I never thought of them as anything resembling real people - just composites of sport-film clichés), I never felt like I cared much what happened to them because I didn't know them, and I figured we all sort of know what the outcome will be (any number of standard variations on coming from behind to win, losing but learning the all-important life lesson so by default one wins, or tragedy strikes and tears are supposed to swell as the booming score does - very few surprises or anything original in most of these movies). What Sylvester Stallone does with his script for this film changed all that. It doesn't exactly avoid all the old chestnuts of sport film lore, but he turns them on their ear just enough. Even if he didn't, that is not the films biggest feat. No it's biggest feat is that as a viewer you feel so sucked into the film, caring so much about this character. You can relate to him. And even though most of our life experiences don't exactly parallel Rocky's plight, his inner struggle - which he explains in a brief but oh-so effective speech to his son - is something both inspirational and that hits so close to home, whatever your fears, regrets and proud moments may be.
And don't forget, WE DO KNOW Rocky! The world knows Rocky. Watching the bout in this film felt like watching an actual fight you have something invested in. You care about the outcome because you care about the fighter. Just like a real fight. You feel invested in it. From the training montage on, the audience reacted verbally and with claps, and - in a few moments - tears, to everything Rocky did. I can't begin to say how surprised I am that Stallone was able to pull this thing off. What sounded like a joke, and any easy target for jokes, from the get-go, turns out to be one of the most exciting (save for a maybe too-long and indulgent first half an hour or so) and freshest feeling films of the year. It's so old fashioned it almost feels new again. It's classic.
Sly has always been a better actor than he is given credit for. It will be just as easy for his detractors to pick apart his performance here, but if you get it; what he is doing, what Rocky means to him as a metaphor and what he is trying to give the fans of the series, he is nothing short of charming - often extraordinary - in his performance.
I can not tell you how surprised I am by this film. It may not work so effectively on you if you don't see it with a theatre audience that roared as loud as the crowd in the movie itself; or if you are too cynical and just looking to find a reason to hate this film you may find them. But I - a jaded sport-film hater - found myself choked up a few times, on the edge of my seat others, and applauding like an idiot in hopes a fictional character would just be able to stand in a ring for a few rounds.
It is surprising and exciting just how pumped up this movie gets you. Rocky is again the underdog - and so, as I said earlier, is Stallone. You want Rocky to win just as much as you want Stallone himself to be triumphant. Just as Rocky has been counted out in the ring, so has Stallone as a serious actor. You begin to realize you are rooting as much for Stallone as for the character he has created. And the excitement of seeing them both fighting their way back is at times an exhilarating - and emotional - experience.
So, some scoffed at the idea of this sequel, saying things like 'let the character die with dignity.' The true indignity would be to have allowed this franchise to go out with the tepid "Rocky V," which was about as far from what made the original so great as the series ever got. With "Rocky Balboa," not only does Sly sign off with dignity, but he leaves the series - and the character - with a renewed vigor and greatness and humanity that has not been seen since the original. And this one may be even more inspiring in its message.
And Sly, oh yeah, he's still got it. And, yes, he's in great shape for 60. Hell, great shape for 30.
Hate if you must, but you are missing out. Hear me when I say this - from a guy who is not a fan of sports movies: I truly believe "Rocky Balboa" is one of the best films of the year. It may technically not be all that original, but it is one of the best, most exciting, entertaining, feel-good times you will have at a movie all year. Even my girlfriend was duckin' and jabbin' in her seat and clapping and crying with the rest of the true "Roco" fans - and she'd never seen one "Rocky" film in her life.
All together now: Rocky! Rocky! Rocky! Rocky!
Summary of Rocky Balboa [Blu-ray]
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