Rocky Balboa (Blu-ray + DVD-Video)
Picture:
B+/B- Sound: C+/B Extras: C+ Film: C
In the
early days of the current cycle of blockbusters, there were jokes about sequels
that were funny because people thought too many sequels were a bad idea. Sadly, they are now too common in the
business. Rocky has always been the target of many of these jokes being one
of the first of that new wave. Just when
you think Sylvester Stallone might quit, he comes back with another one, though
it seemed like Rocky V had done so
poorly, that would be it. Now that Sony
is backing MGM, a sixth film was made and the resulting Rocky Balboa (2006) did better critically than expected.
That did
not necessarily help it become a huge box office hit, but the film did some
business (including as Rocky 6 (or VI) overseas) and is now coming to
Blu-ray and DVD. So was it any
good? Well, it did not try to connect
itself to the last film, in an obvious effort to forget that one. This time, Adrian is gone due to cancer and
Rocky is trying to cope with the loss and pain.
Paulie, who helped them loose their fortune, is still around and barely
hanging on himself.
A young
African American champion is incensed when a sports cable show does a computer
“virtual reality” match between him and Rocky, with Rocky winning. This conjures up the crazy ideas of an
exhibition match for money and Rocky crazily accepts. The film forgets his brain troubles from the
previous films, but then this is almost a stand-alone film in some ways. His son is also trying to get through to him,
now played by Antonio Tarver.
The
problem is that the film is loaded with missed opportunities, is too short to
revisit the character or material properly and cannot capitalize on the
post-9/11 situation in a way that would have made for a big payoff. Seeing Rocky at this point is like seeing an
old friend and even without being pretentious about it, could have considered
ideas about Americana that would have been a real crowd-pleaser. Instead, we don’t have that either and the
ending is so superfluous that they don’t seem to care how it all ends.
Stallone
is actually not bad here, bravely playing the character as an older man and
there are some laughs to boot, but the 102 minutes goes fast and it never feels
like anything begun is finished.
However, Left-of-center critics will find it hard to write this off as
another Right Wing romp. Also amusing
are all the moments that people decide to “take a walk” when having a serious
talk. This both saves indoor set-up costs
and promotes the city for tourism, though it is supposed to show the film’s and
Rocky’s street credibility.
The 1.85
X 1 image is consistent with the 35mm film prints in both the anamorphically
enhanced DVD version and especially the 1080p digital High Definition Blu-ray,
which handles the blues better and is not as blown out in some shots. Shot on location in Philadelphia, one nice
thing about the picture is its lack of digital effects and big screen city
shots. In the boxing ring climax, some
of it looks more like HD, hindering that sequence in both versions.
The Dolby
Digital 5.1 mix on both discs are good, but the PCM 16 Bit/48kHz 5.1 mix on the
Blu-ray is much better, using old and new music by Bill Conti, responsible for the
classic Gonna Fly Now theme back here
once again. This is actually one of
Conti’s better film scores of late, but the mix is not perfect. It is more subtle in most of the dialogue
scenes, then picks up when music, crowds or boxing happen. Unfortunately in all versions, the sound mix
for that match can sound compressed and dialogue can be a problem. Why this went wrong, who knows, but it is
this way on both discs as it was theatrically.
Extras
include Stallone’s feature length audio commentary track, a making of featurette
Skill vs. Will, a making of the
digital boxing match piece Virtual
Champion, some amusing bloopers, featurette Reality In The Ring: Filming Rocky’s Last Fight and deleted scenes
that include an alternate ending even worse than the one they settled on.
However,
the amazing thing is how good the other cut scenes are and watching them for
the first time, it is obvious the script was better to begin with and the
studio should have risked a longer cut.
It makes you wonder if anything else was cut or unfilmed. After you see the film, check these scenes
out immediately and ask yourself how much better the film would have been with
their inclusion.
You can
also check out these links for coverage of all six films in the series as
follows:
Rocky Balboa Theatrical Film Review
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/4762/Rocky+Balboa+(Theatrical+Film
Rocky (1976) Blu-ray + Rocky
Anthology Collection
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/4797/Rocky+Anthology+(One+–+Five
- Nicholas Sheffo
