A brain damaged film (Rocky V (DVD))

Member Name: shaneo632

Product:	Rocky V (DVD)
Date:	06/07/09 (4 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Stallone

Disadvantages: Most everything else

Astoundingly, yes, Rocky made it to a fifth outing (and then a sixth almost two decades later), but most of the heart and soul is gone, sadly. Stallone makes some attempt at providing an emotional core, but this is a tired film that's lacking in fresh ideas. It makes an attempt to "return to roots", and also explores Rocky's rather neglectful relationship with his son, but there's just not enough here that made the original films so great, namely intense fight scenes, pathos, and a real underdog spirit that was so infectious that it was difficult not to root for him.

Essentially, the drama unfolds like a poor episode of a shoddy soap opera - Rocky is ripped off by his accountant, and then finds out that he has brain damage. To top things off, his wife Adrian and son are becoming long tired of his constant returns to the ring, and whilst training upstart boxer Tommy Gun (no joke, that's his name), he neglects his son in many moments of need, as well as not paying enough attention to his doting wife. It's a film that certainly has aspirations, but sadly they're not fleshed out with much dilligence or creativity.

This is the dreariest and silliest of all the Rocky films, and whilst it has a developed emotional core, it simply doesn't offer enough compelling drama or any involving fight scenes that would allow it to resonate. Thankfully, Stallone salvaged the end of the Rocky franchise with the 2006 film Rocky Balboa.

Summary: A defunct Rocky film