Nothing inherently interesting at all

Rating: Null/10 (21 December 2015)

I'd rather not spend 120 minutes watching a film that is seriously step-by-step a copy of so many others before it. There's absolutely nothing interesting about it with any of the characters aside from Rocky, and that's because we already have that connection with him (I only watched the original before seeing this, and thought that was mostly an entertaining, engaging, heartfelt film). Nothing in the story is original, nothing in any of the supporting characters is original or interesting (I can't tell you how much I hate the "let's make the opponent boxer a real jerk" cliché). Nothing in any of the shots is interesting or original, nothing in the story is surprising. It's exactly the kind of film audiences will continue to eat up until the end of time and there will be thousands more like it. No, it's not offensive or bad, but I don't think that's enough. It's exactly the kind of boxing/sports film I always think of in my head when I say I'm not huge on boxing/sports films because they don't add anything new. Michael B. Jordan, god bless him, but he just can't elevate such an inherently uninteresting character. There's nothing there to do. Sylvester Stallone is by far the best thing about it, he has such a nice warmth and presence . I would not begrudge a nomination at all, but it isn't an amazing performance by any means.