Rocky V, terribly under-rated

Rating: 10/10 (7 December 2006)

I have rated this movie as a 10 which will make most readers think I don't have a clue what I'm talking about. To be honest, I don't believe this movie is a 10, but I feel I need to give it that bit extra due to the very low rating this movie has polled on this site. Even though it will make next to no difference to the overall rating of the movie, it will at least make me feel a little better. I have watched the rocky series probably 100 times each and if I had anything to do with making them, I would feel offended that Rocky V is rated lower than Rockys III and IV. I feel that, going on best to worst, the order should be The original on top, followed by the second, then the fifth, then the third, with number 4 coming in last. The original Rocky is one of the best movies ever made, no question. By the second film, Stallone took over directing duties and done a decent job with it, apart from one or two corny things thrown in to it. By the third one however, all common sense in the series went out the window right from the opening montage. The fourth Rocky should have been titled Rocky 80's. If anyone over the age of 12 truly loves that movie, you should be ashamed of yourself. The first movie wasn't a sports movie, it was a drama which happened to be about a journeyman boxer getting to live his dream by fighting for a heavyweight championship. Rocky IV is just a big stupid fight scene, with the rest of the movie just filling in time. Why would Rocky turn down his prize money for this fight? Yes, he was doing it to avenge his friends death, but why not avenge Apollo, and make 10 million at the same time which he could at least give to a charity? The training sequence is stupid, why would there be any gyms at all if running up a mountain was better than all the best equipment available, mixed with steroids. The fight scene itself, which was really all they had, was obscenely ridiculous. There isn't a referee in the world that wouldn't have stopped the contest 3 rounds in. Rocky gets dropped a good 10 times that fight but keeps getting up, yet when he drops Drago once, the show is over. He somehow gets an entire nation to change from spitting on him at the start, to loving him, all in under 30 minutes, and all by punching there national hero in the head. And don't get me started on the speech he gives in the middle of the ring at the end, I'm cringing just thinking about it. The reason Rocky 5 is not so popular, is that people were looking for a sequel to Rocky 4, not another sequel to Rocky 1. Number 5 breaks away from the 80's crap brought to us by the previous 2 sequels. It goes back to its roots of a real story, and they brought the original director back for it. This again has made a drama set in the world of boxing, rather than just a 'boxing movie'. And for people who are just after the action, it actually has more boxing scenes than the other movies, its just Tommy Gunn for most of it instead of the title character, who by the way, was played by Tommy Morrison, who went on to win the World Heavyweight title in real life. The script is solid, the characters have depth and it underlines the corruption that is ruining the sport of boxing. If you really are a fan of either film or boxing, rent the movie again and tell me i'm wrong