Ale-Aba Look for ridiculous in everything !

Rocky Balboa With so many positive reviews out for this film, it seems a bit redundant to add one more....but I'll try. There is essentially a single demand made on the movie goer here and it's not a small one. You must have a vested emotional interest in these characters and the tiny world Stallone built into a huge franchise. If you haven't done that, if you've forgotten what a pure film the first Rocky movie was (and perhaps the second), you'll be at a severe disadvantage watching the series finale. Balboa opens on tragedy and success. The success is in finding Balboa still deeply in love with his wife and the tragedy is that she's been dead for years. He's older, retired and running a small restaurant. He entertains customers with stories of his legendary battles, just as Jack Dempsey did when Dempsey's was a fixture in New York nightlife. His success is that he's alive, well loved and still a man of heart and simple enviable convictions. We can laugh at his neolithic ramblings, yet there is a singular poetry in his thought processes, almost always verbalized. Rocky is a near-perfect heroic figure. He's kind enough to always be looking out for others, yet not so sophisticated as to question any mechanism of possible fairness in his life. When he's pleads with his son, who's career is faltering, he speaks of life knocking us all down to our knees and fighting back. We've all heard such speeches in movies before, but then Stallone adds a tearful line: That's how winning is done! For Balboa, our time here is not something to just survive and it's never too late to prove there's still room for greatness in a person's life. Rocky Balboa is a film much like the first. Backers backed out. Money was short and some cast choices said no. It's shot as a film should be, like good films used to be. From a writing standpoint it's not very well balanced, but this is really a slice of life type film anyway. Rocky Balboa may or may not win in the end, but we know that victory of some sort is heading our way and we can take some comfort in that. It's Stallone's choice in writing the character and of course it's what Balboa himself must have. I give Rocky Balboa three out of four stars, mainly because it really can't stand on it's own. It's more of an extension of the first two films with a less cynical view that seems a bit dated now. Finally, as the end credits roll, we realize that the film is not only a mythical test of heart for it's character, but for us as well. Two tickets to Rocky Balboa = 21.00 Popcorn and drinks = 7.50 Money well spent. *** Capt R.