All too often, we go and see flicks with high expectations, only to be let down immensely afterwards. "King Kong." "Star Wars: Episode 1." Even "Borat" to a degree.
Anyway, I'm home in the DC area for the week between Christmas and New Year's, and, for better or worse, have been spending a lot of time with my folks. I trust their judgment on movies about as much as I would trust tossing beers back with James Frey as we swap college tales. They wanted to see "Rocky Balboa," aka Rocky 6. At the very least, I thought, it was a free movie ticket and free dinner afterward.
Conceptually, a sixth Rocky movie is absurd. Everyone knows that. A man in his 50s taking on a heavyweight champ in his prime is, simply put, whack. As each Rocky movie degraded in quality, I was set to have a good time just making fun of the flick.
But... it didn't suck.
I'm not going to say I loved the movie. It certainly had a few flaws in it with character development, overuse of deus ex machina and a rather passe, overly dramatic filmmaking style, except where it needed it most (during the climactic fight). But on the whole, I dug it. In fact, I'd say it's the best Rocky flick since numero uno. How? It's hard to discuss without spoiling plot elements (a sin in the world of former college film majors), but unlike the other flicks, this one isn't really about the fight - at least not the one in the ring.
Anyway, check it out if you get a chance. The best way to approach it is to see the first film beforehand and then pretend II-V were simply never made. To me, there is Rocky I and there is Rocky Balboa. That is all.
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