Rocky Balboa

"Everyone thought this was a joke, including me. Nobody's laughing now."

When I first heard about Sylvester Stallone's plans to bring his signature character back for one more round, I like many other people were skeptical about the concept. Over the course of 15 years and five films, Rocky had been there, done that, and fought just about everything and everyone that crossed his path. Back in 1990 I felt that the series had ended where it rightfully deserved, bringing Rocky and his family back home to Philadelphia to live in peace.

Flash forward to 2006. Stallone's acting and directing careers were in a slump, despite some well-received roles in smaller films that did little to further his career, and his reign as box office champion was long since over. But then there was the mention of "Rocky Balboa", the sixth entry in the series Stallone began in 1976 with the first Oscar-winning "Rocky". Just the mere mention of the title sent eyes rolling, including mine, I have to admit - another example of the old adage "Everything old is new again" come to life. George Lucas had done it, Steven Spielberg was promising to do it again, and even the "Superman" and "Batman" franchises had ventured down that road once again as well. Couldn't there be something new?

When the film hit the theaters in Christmas 2006, theatergoers were absolutely stunned silent, because here was a movie that, despite all of the odds, was actually very well written, produced, and directed. And when no less than Dr. James Dobson and Focus on the Family, Christianity Today, and WAY-FM (one of the top contemporary Christian radio stations in America which interviewed Stallone) give "Rocky Balboa" high praise and recommendation, it must really be that good.

In this new film, Rocky is sad and lonely. His beloved Adrian (Talia Shire, in flashbacks from earlier films) has been dead three years from cancer, and he spends every day at her gravesite mourning her death. Desperate to fill the hole in his heart, he has opened up Adrian's, a popular Italian restaurant decorated with memorabilia from his celebrated career, where among the fine dining he entertains patrons with tales of his classic fights. He tries to keep the bond alive with his son Robert (Milo Ventimiglia of "Heroes", who bears a very strong physical resemblance to Stallone), a struggling corporate ladder executive who is seen only for his name and fights to emerge from his father's shadow. His down-on-his-luck brother-in-law Paulie (Burt Young), as irascible as he ever was, follows Rocky around the familiar haunts from the first film and tries to convince Rocky to quit living in the past but to no avail.

But he's still the people's champion with a heart of gold who freely gives without asking for anything in return. Among those he serves as a benign benefactor are Spider Rico, one of his former opponents who has become a Christian and works in his restaurant in return for free meals; Marie (Geraldine Hughes), a woman Rocky once knew years before who works as a waitress in a seedy bar, whom Rocky befriends and gives a good job at his restaurant; and Marie's teenage son Steps (James Francis Kelly III), whom Rocky takes under his wing and serves as a surrogate father.

Through it all, Rocky cannot seem to fight the one thing that's keeping him down: the anger and grief inside his own heart over losing Adrian. He allows "the beast", as he calls it, to dominate and suppress him from living and moving forward, and it seems he has no way of saving "the stuff in the basement" - that is, until he hears of a virtual championship bout against Mason "The Line" Dixon (played by real-life heavyweight boxing champion Antonio Tarver), pitting both men in the prime of their careers against each other in a CGI fight. When the computer declares Rocky the winner, that decision spurs him to see whether he really does have one more fight within him. He decides to fight locally and everyone from Paulie to Robert to the boxing commission dismisses his request as an old man's foolish joke to reclaim his pride. But Rocky sees it as something more: the perfect opportunity to make a difference once again and fight the beast consuming his heart.

At the opposite end of the spectrum, Dixon isn't getting any respect in the ring, not fighting with everything he has inside him, and that bothers him inside. When he hears of the CGI fight, he and his promoters decide to give Rocky the chance to really prove it in the ring in an exhibition, which some unjustly call an execution. What emerges is a fight that Dixon sees as the perfect opportunity to claim the respect and honor he rightfully deserves, to see what he's really made of inside, for his career to grow in the right direction. For Rocky, what starts out as a cynical joke to many (even set to the tune of Frank Sinatra's "High Hopes") emerges as the real fight he has longed for over the past trhee years. For everyone around Rocky, it becomes the perfect metaphor for their own lives, to see their own self-worth inside their hearts and live victoriously.

I really have to admit, Stallone has pulled it off with "Rocky Balboa". While some of the other films in this series, not to mention the "Rambo" movies, have been for the most part formulaic, this one is far from formulaic. First off, Stallone is in monstrously fantastic shape at 60 - I only hope I look as good as he does at 60! His storytelling and filmmaking has aged gracefully, and he has a much more focused eye and heart now than ever before. Rocky's speeches are so from the heart, you'd think they were coming from Stallone's own heart, mirroring his desire to make a meaningful comeback in the cinema. His message of perseverance producing inner joy and peace is well told, so that by the time Rocky gets to the big fight, it doesn't matter whether or not he wins against Dixon, because he has already won the more important fight of getting rid of the anger and grief that consumes and threatens to overtake him. Tarver, like Stallone, brilliantly holds his own and underplays his character of Mason Dixon, growing throughout the film and emerging as a latter-day Rocky Balboa in the process. The blend of handheld photography, CGI, basic video, and high-definition video (for the climactic fight) are skillfully melded into one form that's perhaps better than anything Lucas or Spielberg have done in recent years. And Bill Conti's classic score is eloquently underplayed through the bulk of the movie, accompanying not only the essential "Rocky" moments (working out and going through the fight) but also the more important emotional elements, this time a perfect fit to both Rocky's crises at heart and his eventual triumph. And it's an equally perfect metaphor for anyone looking to conquer their inner demons and aspire to their greater dreams of success in life.

Sony Pictures Home Entertainment has delivered a solid DVD presentation of "Rocky Balboa" (also available in HD-DVD and Blu-Ray). The 102-minute film is presented in 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen format and in Dolby Digital 5.1 surround sound, with your choice of English, Spanish, or French subtitles. The print is a visual and audio knockout, wonderfully crisp both on a standard monitor and on a HD receiver, especially during the final 30 minutes of the film. The colors are warm and rich, nicely juxtaposed with the starkly balanced blacks and whites, very reminiscent of Ridley Scott's "Gladiator". This is a great little touch that Stallone has brought to the table, adding to his maturity as a filmmaker.

Sony has alson added a nice collection of extras to this single-disc DVD release. First off is a very interesting and engaging audio commentary with Stallone. He discusses the need to return to Rocky's world one more time for this new installment, which mirrors his own battle to re-emerge as a more confident and nuanced filmmaker. He also focuses on the themes of anger, grief, respect, and perseverance he presents throughout the film, as well as his decision to blend standard photography, clips from past films in old-school video format, CGI for the virtual fight, and HD for the climactic fight, which he describes as the perfect sendoff not only for the character but also for the series. Those of you who thought Stallone was boring and formulaic will definitely toss your opinions by the wayside after hearing this audio commentary.

We have several interesting documentaries on this disc, produced by J.M. Kenny (best known for his work on recent DVD titles, among them Warner's "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory"). As opposed to the typical DVD fluff, this is pretty substantial and well-produced material. First off is the 18-minute "Skill vs. Will", which chronicles the filming of "Rocky Balboa". Stallone, Young, Ventimiglia, Tarver, and Hughes, among others, discuss the importance of producing this final installment, offering their thoughts of being part of an American original. Next up is "Reality in the Ring", which chronicles the choreography Stallone and Tarver undertook to make the final film fight look as real as possible. What's just as interesting here is that instead of the ten days they'd hoped to shoot the fight, they had only six, which raised their stakes of getting the fight to look right - and as Stallone reveals, every punch delivered in the fight is painstakingly accurate.

We also have the six-minute "Virtual Champion", which looks at the creation of the CGI fight. We see early CGI tests for the fight and Stallone's uncompromising desire to make it as real and accurate as possible. We also see Stallone and Tarver undergo CGI modeling and production to make Rocky and Dixon look as accurate as possible in CGI. And as an added treat, Stallone offers up the complete, unedited final version of the virtual fight (which we saw in bits and pieces in the film), a very nice touch indeed for the fans.

But that's nto all. We have an all too brief collection of bloopers, showing Stallone and the cast flub their lines and miss their marks during filming. In addition, there is a hidden Easter egg in the special features section on the DVD of a makeup featurette, showing how Rocky and Dixon's makeup was accurately achieved for the film.

Finally, we have several deleted, extended, and alternate scenes cut from the film. Some of these moments just simply didn't belong, as they would have slowed down the film's pacing and taken away from the central core of the story. Three of these moments allow for further character insight into Paule, including his love of painting, his relationship with his girlfriend, and an extended moment of Paulie breaking down and mourning Adrian's death - the latter of which just didn't fit within the balance of Rocky going through the same grief, emerging as repetitious to the essence of the film's core. We also have an alternate version of Rocky and Marie meeting in the bar, originally filmed with more character interaction but pared down to its starker bare elements that make the final version work more effectively. Another cut moment of Rocky's sparring session (set to classical opera) just didn't seem to fit within the framework completely, because it's not as convincing as Rocky's uplifting workout set to Conti's classic "Gonna Fly Now". And then there's the alternate ending of the movie - I agree, this version was rightfully cut, because it wouldn't have served neither Rocky nor Dixon any character growth and justice to the film. Stallone made the wise artistic decision here, choosing to end Rocky's emotionally fulfilled journey in the final film with two simple words: "Let's go." I only wish Stallone had served some optional audio commentary with these cut scenes, to sweeten the package just a little more.

Surprisingly, the film's original theatrical trailer is not present on this disc, though there's a wide array of other Sony films and DVD titles, including "Spider-Man 2.1", "Spider-Man 3", "Casino Royale", "Are We Done Yet", "The Pursuit of Happyness", and the special edition DVD of "The Natural", among others.

There's a line that serves the whole concept of the film perfectly. During the final fight Robert says to his father, "Everyone thought this was a joke, including me. Nobody's laughing now." That single line drives home the whole theme of "Rocky Balboa" as a movie and as one man's journey to excise his anger and hurt to face the rest of his life with dignity. After seeing this on DVD, I can see why. It truly is that good.