A lower class Italian neighborhood is realistic back then. The first one had a documentary style feel. The one thing that this does not have from the original is a sense of reality. This is not inspired as much as it's constructed. It's as if everybody had a checklist of things to do. On paper, this is daring attempt to bring back the glory of the first movie. They engineer Rocky to move back to the old neighborhood in a convoluted manufactured story. They have Rocky flashback to Burgess Meredith. It's part homage and part resurrecting the dead. Stallone is trying to bring back every last bit of goodness from the original. Tommy has some success and that's when Duke swoops in. Neighborhood kid Tommy Gunn (Tommy Morrison) begs Rocky to be his manager. (Sage Stallone) is having trouble with the mean kids. Rocky only has Mickey's old gym and he moves back to the old neighborhood. Then they find out that their crooked accountant had lost all their money. However Rock is suffering from brain damage and retires. Sleazy promoter George Washington Duke wants Rocky to fight his fighter Union Cane. Rocky Balboa is back from Russia after defeating Drago. Plus, it has one of my favourite Stallone moments, his classic "You knocked him down.now why don't you try knocking me down?" moment. This way feels a lot better, a lot more real. I enjoyed watching the storyline play out, the inevitable twist, and then I found the closing street fight simply refreshing: Stallone did well not to have his character return to the ring for yet another match.
Some have cast doubt on the acting ability of newcomer boxer Tommy Morrison, but I found his acting suited the role perfectly: he's supposed to be a meathead, a jock, not some thespian. Talia Shire and Burt Young don't have much to do again, but kudos for the return of Burgess Meredith for some genuinely moving and poignant flashbacks that brought a tear to this viewer's eye. His relationship with his son (played by Stallone's real-life boy Sage) takes up much of the film, and it's an interesting one that's played to the hilt. He's now a near-disabled man, disturbed by brain damage and past his prime. Rocky's character has progressed since the last film. Avildsen returns to the franchise for the first time since the original, and the film feels very close to that one in nature: there's a return to the gritty, on-the-street vibe that was missing before, and it's good to have it back. ROCKY V boasts a cracking story from Stallone that takes the saga in new directions, carefully avoiding the clichés and as a result breathing fresh life into what was becoming a tired series. I actually enjoyed it far more than the last sequel, that was nothing more than a retread of ROCKY III, substituting Dolph Lundgren for Mr T and achieving little else in the short running time. "Come on, you know, Mickey used to say the fight ain't over till you heard the bell.Here's something surprising: I liked ROCKY V. Balboa to fight Cane, huh? Looks like she's the only one with the cajones in this family."Ģ. "You a damned fool! Maybe we ought to sign Mrs. "Time to put some hustle behind this muscle."ģ.
So what else is new?" Rita Kempley, The Washington Post WHAT CRITICS SAID: "In Rocky V, the underdog is officially diagnosed as 'brain damaged'. Elton John's The Measure of a Man and MC Hammer's That's What I Said are about the best the soundtrack has to offer and that ain't saying much. THE TUNES: There really isn't a stand out song in this one. And that's how we get two more Rocky movies. SURELY YOU DIDN'T FORGET: Stallone initially wanted to have Rocky die at the end of the film. And Mickey (Burgess Meredith) returns in ghostly flashback form to inspire our hero. Also, this is the first time in any of the films Rocky's real name is used. MAYBE YOU REMEMBER: Rocky's son is played by Stallone's real life son Sage.