A terrible way to end the series

Rating: 4/10 (2 June 2000)

Stallone thought he had it all figured out. His films were failing at the box office so he would go back to his bread and butter and write a sequel where he becomes Rocky from 1976. He makes Rocky old and fragile. He makes him broke. He sends him back to the streets of Philadelphia. He gives him the same clothes and even gives him his hat back. The fans should love this.
What a stupid idea!
The problem with that notion is that Rocky grew into what he was. He started out with humble beginnings and he worked his way up into super-stardom. He got in better shape, he increased his wealth, he became the world champ. You can't take all that back and have Rocky go back to what he once was. It just doesn't work. I want to see him in the ring and fight. I want to see him take on all the larger than life people with eccentric personalities like Mr. T and Dolph. But instead we have a squalid Rocky, an impoverished one that is merely a pastiche of what he once was. And that just doesn't work. Once you build a character from scratch and make him larger that life, you cannot regress him and then have him fight in the streets. He has to be in the ring. He just has to be.
I love the Rocky films. They were inspirational and they were fun. But this is a weak effort and it did not have his true fans in mind when he made this mess!
4 out of 10