DVD REVIEW: ROCKY BALBOA

*This was written quickly, as you'll soon see*

I finally saw ROCKY BALBOA last night (gentle hisssss to my friends who wouldn't see it with me in the theater, hmph!). Overall, I liked it but it wasn't as good as I was hoping... but nor was it as bad as I feared. If you haven't seen it and don't want any spoilers, stop reading now - you've been warned.

First off, its much better than ROCKY V, so its already a success in my book. In a way, its a redo of Rocky V, as many of the same themes and story elements are revisited. ROCKY BALBOA feels much more like the first 2 - its more "real" and less "over the top cartoony" as Rocky III and IV (don't get me wrong, I LOVE those sequels). Unfortunately, there's something lacking in this outing. While overall its a return to the theme of HEART over whatever, its missing some of that heart. Part of it is probably Adrian's absence, which you feel throughout - she was always the glue that held everything together, which is part of the story actually. And her fate was truly heart wrenching and tearful.

After watching the film, I watched the deleted scenes. I recommend you doing the same before finalizing your opinion. Most of the deleted scenes should have stayed in the film. They flesh out the story and characters, especially Rocky and Paulie living in a world without Adrian - its really quite sad and touching. Another deleted scene included Rocky actually practicing BOXING, something we NEVER see in the film, not even during the essential training montage. Those and other deleted scenes filled in alot of holes in the movie for me. But the movie still lacks that something....

The fight scene at the end has some nice moments, but its a giant commercial for HBO. I've heard that their money is what allowed the movie to be made, so I'll cut Sly some slack. Unfortunately, almost the entire fight is shown as if you're at home watching PPV - so the announcers are talking, the HBO SPorts logo is up and you're so far removed from the fight, you're barely experiencing it. WHich is a shame. One of the reasons why the ROcky fights kick ass so much is because the director(s) have always put YOU IN THE RING WITH ROCKY. You are there with him for the glory, the pain, the struggle and you FEEL it all. Whenever he came back and won, you would stand up and cheer because you were there with him!!! Not so with this one. No, you are at home, watching TV. Its a real shame.

The overall themes and message Sly is telling with this story is great and I loved every scene where Rocky talks about Life and how he's struggling with the World and himself. Its a very human story. But I really couldn't buy into WHY he truly wanted to fight again. If I think about it enough, the answer is there. But the movie should make me FEEL it, too. I should be cheering Rocky on to get back into that ring. But I'm not. The fight is almost a side distraction, really, that takes you away from the heart of the film. What the fight should have been was the heart of the film coming to a head. Instead, he fights..... and the ending leaves me thinking, "Um, ok.... so that's that, huh?". I wanted the ending to have more emotion than that, whether it be happy or sad - but it just falls flat. Again, I think if the camera had been more attached to the character in the ring instead of just through the eyes of a spectator, alot of things would have fallen into place.

In the end, I did like the movie, despite the tone of this hastily written review. Its a bit rough around the edges, but the approach was right. Plus, it removed that sour note the ROCKY SAGA could have ended on with ROCKY V. Cut the first 15min of ROCKY V at the beginning, fade to black with "15 Years Later", fade into the opening of ROCKY BALBOA.

I'm going to watch the movie again.