Good third movie

Rating: 6/10 (21 July 2013)

I think Sylvester Stallone should end the story of Rocky here . It would be a fitting end for the most famous boxer in history of cinema. I like forth one , but as a entertainment movie . "Rocky 5" was a misstep and it's good that "Rocky Balboa" ended the franchise with style. Still , I think that three Rocky movies were more than enough. Oh well , I can't do anything about it.
"Rocky 3" works really well as a third act of Balboa's story . It's not just another movie in the franchise . For me , it brings the story to full circle. In first movie we are introduced to Rocky, a boxer that has to fight both in the ring and in life for everything . He doesn't even dream of fame , yet he gets a chance from destiny to change his life . In second movie he changes . He wants fame and money . He loses himself . Thankfully he is able to realize that and comes back to his old self. "Rocky 3 " is a story about a man who lost his touch . He's the same likable , honest , good guy we met . Yet he's different. He lost his passion , his hunger , his magic (for lack of better word). He's burnt out . This is something many of us can relate to . We don't know what is the reason that our beloved director has stopped making good movies or why our favorite band can't record album as good as before . Nobody knows . It's hard to achieve success , but it's even harder to life with that success . To not fail . To not become a shadow of himself. "R3" is a story about how hard is to come back to the top . It's kind of a prophecy for Stallone who disappeared somewhere in the mid 90's and came back triumphant in 2006 with Rocky Balboa. It's also a story about defeating your own fear .
Mr.T who plays Clubber Lang represents a new generation of boxers – young , violent , aggressive , with no respect for anybody and anything. In a way he's a darker version of Balboa. T gives a good performance . He's different than Creed and memorable , so Stallone did good job with finding a worthy opponent for Balboa.
Sylvester Stallone , Burgess Meredith , Burt Young , Talia Shire and Carl Weathers bring back the good acting they shown us before. Watch out for Chino "Fats" Williams in small episode of drunk homeless man and for Hulk Hogan (sic !) as wrestler Thunderlips .
"Rocky 3" works as a solid sport drama . I could live without the boxing match between Stallone and Hogan . It belongs more to "Rocky 4" and doesn't fit in to overall serious tone of the movie .
The fights are exciting and quite realistic, especially compared to "Rocky 4" (it's still a movie, so you need some suspension of disbelief) . The direction is solid . The training montage is inspirational and don't forget about great song "Eye of the tiger" by Survivor (it was nominated for Oscar).
I give it 7/10.