A misstep. And it's flawed by a few production decisions.

The misstep is the decision to take away virtually everything Rocky had gained in his journey so far.

The flaws - the music being majority rap. The flashback to Mickey. The lack of nuance - everything is just so heavy-handed.

One throughpoint of Stallone's career is that he at least understood what people wanted from their films. And he wrote for them rather than the critics...

I can't think what Stallone was trying to do with this and whether it was lost in the edit as Rocky IV seemed to be... Who knows. I don't expect this one to get the later life Director's Cut like IV did.

Once again though we get a mashup of what was going on in Stallone's world versus what was going on with the world at large. Tyson had emerged in the 5 years since IV and the rise/fall of Mike is mirrored somewhat in Tommy Gunn (Little did anyone know what reality had in store for Tommy just a few years later).

And Stallone's own career stall was beginning to weigh on his thinking... A few years later he would recreate his persona and a decade & a half later he would go a long way to rectify this film as being the end of an anthology for the ages.

Worst of the series for sure but Rocky has built up a huge amount of goodwill by this point that all is forgiven.


5.5/10

From II to III they changed the emphasis away from Rocky's family and friends and the characters and moved it into straight boxing, but it was still inspirational, it was still fun.

Here I don't know what they did. It was like they changed the focus back on the characters but somehow butchered it in the process. The result was just horrible.

It wasn't the lack of Rocky fighting or the fact that Tommy Gun was kind of an evil traitorous friend that used him and then walked away... it was how they handled it.

It could have been the start of a good story of Rocky as a trainer, but it ended up just being awful. The dramatic family dynamic was shot and it turned into a mess with a convoluted story that hinted at being decent, but always missed the boat.

It should have been the more personal story, but it stopped being personal the moment Tommy Gun walked on screen and it turned into a mess that didn't seem to know which way it should go.

However... the same basic concept was used with Creed, and this time (despite it's FORGIVABLE faults in the script, it was done right). Partially due to the fact that Jordan is a far better actor than Morrison, but mostly due to the fact that it kept what it promised to deliver and the story was more coherent from start to finish.

At the heart of Rocky V, there is a really intimate story about living in the past and being blinded to your present, but unfortunately that gets muddled with its somewhat convoluted screenplay.

The decision to take away Rocky’s wealth with a cheap plot device is one that was not needed. Rocky has already hit rock bottom in his life, and ripping away all of his accomplishments makes his story feel like it’s going backwards. The entire plot could have been just as effective if he was still at the top of the world.

I think the decision to focus on Rocky’s age and sudden loss of relevance is what really intrigued me with this installment. Rocky is no longer in fighting shape, and the one thing that made him Rocky was this fighting background. He gradually loses control of himself, not only as a professional but also as a man. This causes him to lose sight of everything in his life by focusing on gaining that fighting relevance back. This creates some really emotional conflicts with his son that feel impactful.

This film was on its way to getting 3.5 stars from me until the final twenty minutes of the film. It takes a somewhat grounded story, very reminiscent of the original, and turns it into a cheap gang action flick with a bar brawl. This felt incredibly out of place, and I think a more satisfying ending would have been Rocky leaving the fighting all behind without this physical conflict.

John Avildsen’s direction is back, with this film being the most reminiscent of the original. The acting is good all around, with standouts being Sylvester Stallone, Talia Shire, and, surprisingly, Sage Stallone, who was excellently cast across from his real-life father. Tommy Morrison was decent, but Richard Gant was just awful. He had such a campy presence in the film that was really out of place. I hated every time he was on the screen.

Overall, I enjoyed this installment more than most due to its more serious tone and interesting look at a post-boxing Rocky Balboa, but it definitely could have been much better with a tighter script.

Score: 60%
Verdict: Decent