Rocky V

Rocky V

Starring Sylvester Stallone, Talia Shire, Sage Stallone, Tommy Morrison

Directed by John Alvidsen

The Story:
After defeating Ivan Drago in Russia, Rocky Balboa (Sylvester Stallone) returns home with shaking hands, and a fear for his health, especially from his wife Adrian (Talia Shire).  At a press conference after returning he's goaded by boxing promoter George Washington Duke (Richard Gant) to fight his boxer Union Cane (Michael Williams), but Rocky refuses.  He learns that he has suffered some severe brain damage, and will be unable to fight again, and also discovers that his friend Paulie (Burt Young) has lost all Rocky's money to a shady accountant, and they loose their mansion.

Moving back to a seedy apartment in Philadelphia, Adrian returns to work at the pet store while Rocky tries to find something he's good at, and his son Rocky Jr. (Sage Stallone) gets bullied in his new school.  Rocky meets wannabe fighter Tommy Gunn (Tommy Morrison), and agrees to take him on as a protege, and trains him to eventually win the Heavyweight Championship.  George Washington Duke notices and uses the growing tension between Rocky and Tommy (as Tommy hates living in Rocky's shadow) to once again convince Rocky to fight - but this time fight his now-former protege.

The Synopsis:
Up until this point, the "Rocky" franchise has been a series of successes, and while they seemingly followed the same predictable pattern, was continually heightened by the mainstay performances of Sylvester Stallone, Talia Shire and Burt Young.  "Rocky V" was a film that, for all intents and purposes, didn't need to be made, as even Stallone himself apologized for writing it (saying he did it purely for greed), and the result is a film that almost sent Rocky out with a TKO, but thankfully it was only a knockout for the boxer and not his final swan song.

"Rocky V" varies greatly from its four predecessors in that it doesn't involve a box boxing match in the middle of the film that propels Rocky to come back and go even harder for the final bout, but instead it's a muddied family melodrama that eventually culminates in one final boxing match - but in a very different setting.  While many people claim this to be the worst of the franchise (and I would agree), I wouldn't give it the same ire that others do, as I found myself engrossed in the family drama between Rocky and his son Rocky Jr., especially since they cast Rocky's real-life son Sage Stallone in the role, adding a deeper emotional depth than him just being another actor.  It still extends its run time a bit too long however, and leaves us just waiting for the final match to finally happen so we can go on with our lives.

Sylvester Stallone this time around seems more invested in his performance than usual, and is given surprisingly more depth and weight than previous incarnations.  He has to deal with his own career ending, maintaining some sort of relationship with his son, and serving as a coach for a new up-and-coming boxer that he sees a lot of himself in.  He's more dramatic than other "Rocky" films, which might be why this film failed - we don't want to see a Shakespeare Stallone, just one who enters the ring and beats the crap out of his opponent.

Talia Shire's Adrian changes drastically from her previous four films to this one, in that now she's basically a screeching madwoman who constantly tells Rocky he can't fight anymore, and pretty much everything she says she has to scream it.  Burt Young clearly is just here for the money as Paulie, and there's pretty much no spark left in him at all.  Richard Gant joins the group as boxing promoter George Washington Duke and gives his best Don King impression, while Michael Williams gives Union Cane a very Mike Tyson feel, and both are mere caricatures in the grand scheme of things.

Tommy Morrison (who was also a famous boxer in real life before passing away from AIDS in 2013) gives the most depth to Rocky's opponent since Apollo in "Rocky II," as he is also the man closest to Rocky to want to fight him.  Rocky takes him under his wing (mostly due to Rocky wanting to live vicariously through his success), and Tommy goes on a perfect boxing record to win the Heavyweight Championship, all the while being hounded by reporters who say he's no Rocky, and having countless articles listing him as "Rocky's protege."  This enrages the man, whose growing cockiness is picked up on by Duke and uses this to turn Tommy against Rocky, leading to an intense match between the former friends that's easily the most unique fight in the franchise.

"Rocky V" was definitely the low of the franchise, despite John Alvidsen having returned to direct it after earning an Oscar for directing the first film, and it's due to Stallone's half-hearted attempt to write a script and provide something merely to make a buck - and ironically "Rocky V" was the only film in the franchise to actually loose money, and sent Philadelphia's favorite fictional son to obscurity until "Rocky Balboa" sixteen years later.

The Summary:
While the film strayed from the patterns of the past, "Rocky V" was muddied by a far-too-long family melodrama, and shows a lack of passion and heart that the other four possessed.

The Score: C-