Rocky Week Part 5

I guess everyone can probably assume that I’m not looking forward to today’s review. The reason why is because we have now come to the weakest entry in the series, “Rocky V,” released in 1990. What more was there left to do with the series? Rocky had won the heavyweight title twice, fought opponents twice his size and defeated the strongest opponents ever.

Well, the film starts off with Rocky in the shower shaking after his fight and telling Adrian that he just wants to go home. By the way, did I mention that Talia Shire got hotter with each movie in the series? Enough of that, as soon as Rocky lands in the airport, the band, just like in the third movie, is playing the Rocky theme song. How does the band in this series know the theme song? Also, Rocky’s son, played by Stallone’s real-life son, the late Sage Stallone (I feel terrible saying that), runs up to meet him. How did he miraculously grow in between movies? How long was Rocky in Russia? In the last movie, he was just a little kid, but now he’s in his pre-teens or teenage years? That makes no sense.

Next thing that happens, Paulie had Rocky sign some tax papers that made the Balboa family lose all of their money, which is a cheap twist to make them move back to their humble roots in Philadelphia. Rocky wears his old clothes again in this movie, Adrian works at the pet store again, Paulie goes back to the meat factory, and John G. Avildsen is back as director this time around. I give them credit for bringing Rocky full circle, since 3 and 4 were action movies and Rocky’s wealth and fame moved away from the underdog character that we loved from the first movie. It would be a nice closure to the series, if not for the flaws that’s in here. Also, there is a flashback when Rocky is in the old gym when Mickey tells him, “If you ever get hurt and you feel as if you’re going down, this little angel is going to whisper in your ear and say ‘GET UP’ because Mickey loves you.” Like I have mentioned a handful of times before, this blog is going to be swearing free, so watch the original clip to know what he said.

Rocky is at a press meeting where people are asking him what his plans are. Adrian announces that he’s retired and has nothing more to prove. I would agree because how many times do you have to redo the same plot threads? When Rocky goes to the doctor, he gives him a report that shows that his brain has been damaged from his fight with Drago. However, there is an arrogant boxing promoter named George Washington Duke, played by Richard Gant, who keeps trying to get Rocky back in the ring. He even gets Rocky’s medical report, which was sworn to be kept secret, but how this promoter got it is beyond me.

A young boxer by the name of Tommy “The Machine” Gunn, played by real-life boxer, the late Tommy Morrison (man, does it suck to say that), comes to town and asks Rocky to train him, and he agrees, which is where the film starts to go downhill. Rocky is giving all of his time to Tommy and ignores his own family. His son constantly gets beat up by some bullies at school, has his jacket stolen, and his family is not doing anything about it. Adrian suggests going to the school staff to let them handle it, but Rocky and Tommy are suggesting that he fight the boy. What does Rocky Jr. do? He works out, punches the kid, and gets his jacket back. When Jr. tells Rocky what happened, Rocky says, “That’s great kid, go tell your mother that.” Hold on, what’s with the meat-headed attitude in this movie!? Violence doesn’t solve anything. Why don’t you sit the kid down and talk some sense into him? But no, they decide to constantly use the phrase, “Go for it” throughout the movie. The moral value in this movie doesn’t work at all!

Like I already mentioned, with Rocky ignoring his family and only considering Tommy as family gets old and boring really fast. That’s my main problem with this movie is that it’s boring! Rocky is ignoring his family and is spending all his time training Tommy, I get it, let’s move on! George Washington Duke is the main antagonist who is constantly hovering over Tommy, like Emperor Palpatine and Darth Vader. George Washington Duke gets Tommy the heavyweight title that he was so eagerly wanting, even though Rocky wanted him to wait, which makes sense. When Tommy does win the title, nobody respects him still and he’s under the shadow of Rocky.

Then the film really picks up when Tommy challenges Rocky to a street fight. Tommy punches Paulie, Rocky responds, “You knocked him down, why don’t you try knocking me down now?” George Washington Duke says, “Tommy Gunn only fights in the ring,” but Rocky says, “My ring’s outside.” Alright, now this is getting good. The street fight really helped this movie out with how over-the-top it got. Tommy punches innocent watchers and the reactions from the crowd are just hilarious, especially with Jr. shouting, “Punch him out dad, he took my room!” However, there’s no reason for this fight to happen because it doesn’t solve anything. Rocky does get his pride back, but he’s still poor and Tommy’s still the champion. However, for simple entertainment, it’s still worth checking out. Much like in “Superman III,” where I only liked the junkyard fight between good Clark Kent and evil Superman, in this movie I only like the street fight. That’s the only part I recommend, the rest of the movie is not worth checking out, but I say you can if you’d like.

Now you may think that I really hate this movie, but not entirely. I do say it’s the weakest, but the ending is the most satisfying to all of them put together. Rocky wins the street fight, George Washington Duke threatens, “Touch me pug and I’ll sue,” Rocky uppercuts the man onto a car and ask, “Sue me for what?” As funny as that line is, it’s true. How often does the villain get a simple punch?

The ending is really satisfying when Rocky and his son run up the Art Museum steps and look at the statue, Rocky takes his son inside, leaving the statue standing there, and the credits roll with a slideshow of pictures from the previous movies. I do like this ending since it really closes the series on a good note. A lot of people, like me and even Stallone hated this movie, consider this movie the weakest, which it is, but the last half-hour with the street fight is what really makes up the movie.

If you thought that the series was going to end here, think again. Check in tomorrow where we get a really satisfying closure to the series in “Rocky Week.”