The Good

A well put together DVD that tells you everything you could want to know about this film.

The Bad

I wish there had a been a separate featurette with members of the boxing world talking about this franchise.

Rocky Balboa (Sylvester Stallone) has reached a crossroads in his life. He has lost his beloved wife Adrian (Talia Shire), his son Robert (Milo Ventimiglia) is trying to get out from his shadow, and Paulie (Burt Young) is angrier and crankier than ever. After a virtual boxing match deems Rocky the winner over current champion Mason "The Line" Dixon (Antonio Tarver), a buzz is created and suddenly Rocky has a chance to get back in the ring and fight Dixon in a 10 round exhibition match. After working things out with his son and getting Paulie back on track, Rocky and company head to the gym for one final time.

There were many people who laughed at the idea of Rocky Balboa. In fact, many people have called it "surprisingly good." Well, I can honestly say that I never doubted for a second what this movie would be. Regardless of what you think about the franchise, this is a movie that Sylvester Stallone knows intimately. He knew where he wanted to take it and even though there have been missteps along the way (I honestly think that Rocky II is much worse than Rocky V), there is something about this person turning back time (even if he didn't do it all the way) that really resonated with viewers.

Features

Deleted Scenes and Alternate Ending

There are 8 of these in total on this disk. When I covered this movie for it's theatrical release Sylvester Stallone mentioned that there was some footage of Paulie that had been cut. Basically, he was having a nervous breakdown. While I was surprised at first to hear that, looking at this footage now I think it's a good idea that it was excised. This stuff was good but it would have ultimately taken too much away from this movie. As for the Alternate Ending, I don't want to give too much away but I will say that it's the best alternate ending I have ever watched. That said, I think the one in the film was the best choice.

Boxing Bloopers

My biggest complaint about this is that it's too short. We see actors blowing lines, Stallone asking a large crowd for more energy, and him and Antonio Tarver laughing as they lob punches at one another. Nothing too great here but if you are a megafan of this movie (which I am), you will certainly want to check this out.

Skill Vs. Will: The Making Of Rocky Balboa

Since I followed this movie both as a fan and for this website, this really didn't tell me anything about Rocky Balboa that I didn't already know. However, if you are not as ravenous a fan as I am then you will certainly find this insightful. We find out why Stallone had to make this movie, what some of the other actor's take on Rocky Balboa is, and basically this plays like an EPK introducing you to this world.

Reality In the Ring

I loved this because I thought the final fight in the film was such an important, well done piece of this series. Stallone talks about what he was going for, why he chose to shoot the fight like something you'd watch on Pay Per View, and how he went about staging the action. I think it's very interesting how loose this whole process was. Sure there were things in the fight that were scripted, but I think the reason why this feels so fluid is because Stallone and Antonio Tarver allowed themselves to engage in a spirited workout/mock sparring session.

Creating the Computer Fight

Techies should really love seeing how this segment of the film was created. We are taken into Blur Studio where they went through the process of motion capture, plaster face casting, digital face and body scan, etc.. I loved hearing that Antonio Tarver thought they only had to do things one time, and that Stallone had to coach him in the art of repetition. On top of that, I thought it was interesting seeing how the participants in this have to make every face imaginable so that the fight/game can be constructed with many options.

Commentary

I enjoyed this and at times I felt like I was one of those characters in Rocky Balboa who got to sit back and hear the champ tell stories. Stallone has a way of talking that is very matter of fact, very up front, but at the same time very warm and engaging. While he talks a lot about this current installment of the franchise, he also goes back and forth as he references the other films. I liked hearing about his choice of colors, his use of foreshadowing, but most of all I felt like a fan who was just happy that someone he admires was allowed to go back and relive his glory again. I can only hope Sylvester Stallone makes more films that are personal to him.

Video

1080p - Mastered in High Definition - Presented in a 1.85:1 Aspect Ratio - 16x9. Having seen this movie many times in the theater and now on Blu-ray, I can honestly say that this experience is the best I have ever seen this film. (Yes, that includes even sitting down and watching it at the MGM Screening room.) This movie feels as fresh as it does because Stallone has kept it very 21st Century in it's look, while also throwing in imagery from the past. Each frame of this film seemed sharp and I cannot say enough good things about the video quality of this film on this format.

Audio

English PCM 5.1. English and French 5.1, with subtitles in English, English SDH (CC), French and Spanish. Sadly, I didn't have the time I wanted to really mess around and configure my sound system with this movie. As I plan to watch Rocky Balboa many more times, I look forward to seeing how this movie plays against the others in this series. As I was watching this film I kept reminding myself that I was at home and not in a movie theater (the sound is almost devouring in it's ferocity). I can't wait to watch all the films in this format, hint, hint.

Package

Rocky is presented to us on this Blu-ray cover with his fist raised triumphantly in the air with the "Rocky" steps below him. The back features some images from the movie, a description, a special features list (the type is too small on these Blu-ray releases), a cast list and system specs. Aside from me not being a big fan of Blu-ray packaging I thought everything here looked alright. As I have said, the content is much more important than the storage unit it comes in.

Final Word

One thing I think this 102 minute film has is a great sense of it's mood. Watching through the deleted scenes, it seems that Stallone and Co. really knew when to cut. When they had gotten too superfluous and it was time to move on with this story. This movie never felt that they belabored points, and Stallone even talked about how he'd let some fights scenes go longer than they should have in other films. I also really applaud their decision to shoot the final fight as if it was something we were watching on Pay Per View. More than any other

Rocky movie (and any other fight film I have ever seen) this really captured the mood and feel of today's fight game. It captured the look, the stylized presentation of the bouts, and even the way the judges score the fights.

So, it is with some sadness that I write what will probably be my final review of any movie in the Rocky franchise. Sure, he could maybe come back again but I don't think that he will. Sylvester Stallone exercised many demons with this film, not the least of which was pulling in $141 million in worldwide box office receipts.

Rocky Balboa was released December 20, 2006.