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Going out with a bang

Sylvester Stallone in Rocky Balbo

Rocky Balboa (English)

Director: Sylvester Stallone

Cast: Sylvester Stallone, Milo Ventimiglia, Burt Young, Antonio Tarver, Geraldine Hughes

You've got to hand it to Sly Stallone. On an involuntary semi-retirement from Hollywood's A list for years now, one would have expected him to attempt a comeback with a bang. To his credit, however, Rocky Balboa is anything but a has-been's attempt at getting with it. Instead, written and directed by the star who is now pushing 60, the film accepts for the most part that age has caught up to the Average Joe boxer and builds the tale around that inevitable reality.

Of course, the idea of a middle-aged ex-boxer (no matter how incredibly well preserved his physique maybe) taking on Mason Dixon (Antonio Tarver), a champion in his prime, is quite unbelievable, and so too is the grand match of the movie. But still, it is done with so much heart that it is impossible not to suspend disbelief and give the immortal character his due. The real story of the film, however, lies in the way it accepts in its own quiet way the passing of time and allows Rocky to settle into the life of someone who is not eager to get somewhere in a hurry. And so, most of the movie abounds with images of a life taking a quiet detour off the main road. Rocky runs a small Italian restaurant named after his wife, where the backroom is filled with images from the rest of his career, and the man himself stops by every evening to shake hands, pose for photos and tell stories of the glory days over and over again.

And the most constant images from the rest of the series visit this film in the form of translucent flashbacks of Adrian and periodic appearances of Burt Young's Paulie and Pedro Lovell's Spider Rico, who Rocky spars within the beginning of the first film of the series.

Even the source of the brief almost-romance Marie (Geraldine Hughes) is a character from the past, from his prime. As for the fight itself, the boxer finally has a perspective with some maturity: it is not about how much punishment you can give, but how much you can take and still get back up.

Of course, there are disappointments in the film, born largely out of Stallone's self-indulgence. Much of the movie could have been edited better and a tighter final product would have been more appreciated. But as the gentle poking fun of the final credit shows, this is not a sports film.

It is a film about a man who once had something to do with sports. And such a tale can always be allowed its reminiscences, if even the schmaltz is this well done.

Rakesh Mehar

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