Boring retread

Rating: 5/10 (23 January 2016)

I did not like this film and I love the Rocky films. It was a boring retread of material we've seen done better in previous Rocky films.
I didn't understand the lead character's motivation for boxing, the dialogue felt forced and incongruous and the film was baggy and overly long. The love interest felt tacked on, unnecessary and implausible.
Good things about it were the improved quality of the boxing over the original Rocky films, the cinematography was good and it's a very well-made film. Sly put in a solid performance with what he was given.
Tony Bellow/Ricky Conlan was by far the best thing in it, but he didn't have nearly enough screen time (after 5 seconds near the beginning he doesn't show up until almost an hour later for a minute-long scene) so it didn't really feel like a rivalry or adversity for our protagonist to overcome. In fact, I was rooting for Ricky throughout the finale. Also, the first round of boxing in the finale was great, but from the second round on it was a punch-for-punch remake of the original Rocky.
After 90 minutes, I was thoroughly bored and waiting for the film to end. I'm baffled by the acclaim this movie is receiving.