boxing clever

Rating: 7/10 (23 March 2006)

Watching Rocky 3 again  I was struck by how nice a bookend to the whole piece it would have been. I'm a huge fan of these movies  I believe they rise above the popcorn bracket they are placed in.
As much as i love the idea of 4 and 5 and 6 for that matter it gets a bit ridiculous to watch his IQ rise and fall through the series. Indeed by 2007 when the last is released we should expect to see a bubbling wreck a la the once mighty Ali  which might have been a nice character piece  but what we'll get maybe we'll get that one in a few years.
But back to Rocky 3. Mr T is menacing  Coach is frail and plucky and the Adrian/Paulie siblings continue to annoy rather than add to the story. Adrian now seems adept at motivational speaking and Paulie just plain gets on the nerves. The reason I say it would make a perfect end to the series is that a lot of things come full circle. Rocky and his one time enemy become friends  Mickey dies and Adrian blossoms fully. Rocky proves that he is not just a one time lucky bum made good by beating not just the new threat to the throne but his own fears.
Sure it's east to see it doesn't have the gravitas of the original but it has moments. And above all else Stallone created a character that people just love to get behind.
A worthy film to any DVD collection. Take it for what it is and not what others try to make of it. It's good solid entertainment and won't disappoint.