I'll pass

Rating: 1/10 (20 June 2009)

Being an 8 yr old kid going with my friends to the one screen corner theater to see the first Rocky movie in 1976 is an experience that will be forever stamped into my childhood memories. I'll never forget how thrilled and excited the whole audience felt when leaving the theater.
A few years later when Rocky II came out, the charm and emotion was still there and it was a pretty good sequel. But the problem with it was it was too predictable. You knew before the movie began that Rocky would win this time or else why would they bother to make a sequel in the first place? Rocky III was a good adrenaline pumper and served as a good promotional movie for Survivor's new album as well as a launching pad for Hulk Hogan's and Mr.T's careers. But the problem with it was Rocky's character is so far removed from the one we grew to love. He is no longer the 2nd rate underdog boxer or the "wise guy" street tough who lives in squalor. He's now a rich classy celebrity type figure who speaks articulately and now has an iron jaw and can take a thousands punches that should have rendered him unconscious.
Rocky IV was a clear indication that the series had gone way too far. Although a good popcorn movie, it was still pretty lame. The movie was more like an hour and a half long MTV video. Way too many songs, montages, and dragged out training scenes that served as fillers in lieu of an actual script and the idea of a boxer turned world peace negotiator was just cringe worthy.
And finally, Rocky V was just all around bad. Rocky losing his fortune and moving back to the Philadelphia streets was an obvious attempt to recapture the charm of the original. But unfortunately, it fell way short. The movie was more like a "Daddy's not paying enough attention to me" soap opera that focused too much on Rocky's dorky and unlikeable son who's daddy is too busy training his new protégé Tommy Gunn and is constantly hounded by the Don King type character Duke to get back in the ring. I'm sure that even Sylvetser Stallone himself would love to have this stinker surgically removed from the series.