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Rocky Balboa

CAST

Sylvester Stallone - Rocky
Antonio Tarver - Mason 'The Line' Dixon
Burt Young - Paulie
Milo Ventimiglia - Rocky Jr.

CREW

Sylvester Stallone - Director
Sylvester Stallone - Screenwriter
Sylvester Stallone - Executive Producer

Trivia

The fight entrance with Rocky coming out before he fights Mason Dixon was filmed during the Middleweight Championship rematch between Jermain Taylor and Bernard Hopkins in December, 2005.

Sage Stallone the son of Sylvester Stallone turned down the the chance of reprising his role of Robert 'Rocky' Balboa Junior, which he played in Rocky V (1990), due to prior obligations with his film company Grindhouse Releasing.

Goofs

Factual errors: The fight between Rocky Balboa and Mason Dixon is billed as an exhibition match, yet it is ten rounds long and they don't wear headgear. An exhibition match wouldn't be longer than six rounds and they would have to wear headgear.

“Rocky Balboa” could have been a painful disaster, a pathetic attempt by a once-potent movie star to resurrect his faded glory. Surpisingly , Rocky balboa is no embarrassment infact “Rocky Balboa” is the best “Rocky” movie since the original and a fitting final tribute to one of the greatest American movie characters.

If the original “Rocky” taught us anything, it’s that it isn’t always about winning. Sometimes it’s just about finishing the fight with your head held high. Thirty years and five sequels later it still holds true. Rocky Balboa is no different from its predecessors in terms of the formula , it begins with 50 minutes of build up followed by 15 minutes of training and then 30 minutes of solid bone crushing in-ring boxing.

The movie starts with Rocky ( Now old ) spending each day at the grave of his beloved wife Adrian (he’s there so often he keeps a folding chair in the branches of a nearby tree). Rocky operates an Italian restaurant , he keeps his customers happy by telling them his same old boxing stories. He has a strained relationship with his son Rocky Jr. who doesn't have enough time for his father. And then there’s Rocky’s brother-in-law Paulie who seems to be his only friend alive until he re-connects with Marie , a girl he met during the first film, he finds another individual let down by life - someone he can bond with. His is a sad, lonely, unfulfilled life.

Meanwhile, the current heavyweight champion, Mason "The Line" Dixon is struggling for respect after beating one chump after another. So his manager comes up with an ultimate publicity stunt , pitting in the current great against the all time great Rocky balboa who is something of a folk hero. After that its the usual training followed by an intense boxing action.

However Rocky balboa is not an action movie , during the first 60 minutes it mainly focuses on dialogue and character developement and that is the beauty of this film. This is the same Rocky we have gotten to know over the years, but here we see his vulnerability. He's not very smart, but he's generous, and he's not good at hiding his emotional pain. For him, it was always Adrian. She was the reason that losing the first fight was still a victory - because he got her.

On the acting front i must say this is one of the best performance by stallone. He delivers all the dialogues and one liners with a solid punch. Burt young as paulie is also great and so is Antonio Tarver as Mason Dixon. Tarver, as some of you might know, is a real fighter. Oh and there is also a small guest appearance by the former great Mike tyson. Overall the acting and the dialogues are pretty good.

One more thing i will like to mention is that the fight seems much more realistic in this movie. In fact it appears that the first two rounds were shot in real time with multiple cameras while Stallone and Tarver whaled away on each other. Also they got the current HBO announcing team of Jim Lampley, Larry Merchant and Max Kellerman to make things more realistic. The Final fight as usual is absolutely awesome and so is the climax of the film.

If you're a Rocky fan ,this movie is a must watch. Its emotional , tensed and entertaining. The ending of Rocky Balboa echoes the ending of Rocky in more ways than one. Stallone has said this is it for Rocky - even if the film is major box office hit, there will be no seventh outing. If that's the case, it's hard to think of a better sendoff.

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