Even if it try. Rocky V couldn't fight itself out of a paper bag. This movie is super weak. It's not worth going for it.

Rating: 5/10 (26 August 2019)

This fifth movie and apparently then conclusion in the series, was not good. It turn away so many fans. So far, it's the only film in the Rocky saga to have lost money at the box office. Directed by John G. Avildsen, the flick tells the story of boxer Rocky Balboa (Sylvester Stallone) learning how to deal with retirement after suffering numerous concussions, meanwhile training a new fighter Tommy Gunn (Tommy Morrison) to take his place. Without spoiling the movie too much, thank God for 2006 'Rocky Balboa' & 2015 'Creed', because the franchise could had ended with a sour note. Originally pitch with the boxer meeting his end with an unplanned street fight. The film's climax was rewritten by Stallone after noticing how overall unpleasant, it was. So he changed it for the better; which was the best decision. The whole idea of him giving up and dying very weakly goes against everything that the franchise was teaching its viewers. Regardless, the new ending still didn't go the distance. It didn't really resolve any of Rocky's financial & fatherhood issues with his son Robert (Sage Stallone). That's one of the biggest faults of the movie. We never got to see if the boxer would be alright with putting his gloves away for good and survive through other means. It felt unfinished. In fact, a big takeaway here is that violence is still the best and perhaps only way to solve any and all conflicts. Be it Rocky's issues with over the top cartoony character, George Washington Duke (Richard Gant) or Robert's bullies. That's isn't really a good moral message when you think about it. After all, being brave doesn't mean, you go out looking for trouble. As for the music. It's mostly a miss for me. This movie doesn't have best training montage to pump up. The hip hop music is really dated and doesn't really related much to what happening in the film. It's honestly pretty disappointing to listen to. Plus, I hate that "Gonna Fly Now" is not never really heard in the film. Regardless, the action scenes throughout the film, still look pretty fake and hokey even with the alternate fight work print. The hits don't even land at times. It's sucks, because Morrison was honestly a really good boxer in real life. Although, the action scenes with him were below average, his acting was decent. He really did some great delivery with passion at certain parts in the film. One such example was the dinner scene where Tommy talks about his father. Nevertheless, it's Michael Williams, the other boxer performer that really fall flat here. Not only is his shadow boxing, very poor in the film, but he barely shows any characteristics as Union Cane. While, it's true that Williams and Morrison were to have an actual match about a month after this movie was released. It had to be canceled, because Williams hurt himself. As for Stallone, he was alright in the film. I do like his acting even if Rocky's lethal form of 'brain damage', was inaccurate portrayal. Regardless, it's just nice to see the effects of head injuries like concussions being actually honest meaningful discussed here, even if it was briefly shown. His chemistry with his son was fine. Sage was also alright as an actor, despite being a little annoying at parts. As for Adrian (Talia Shire) Rocky's wife, Shire as a performer isn't given much to do, besides being supported. She was just fine in the role. Unfortunately, one subplot I didn't really like was the boxer's brother in law Paulie (Burt Young) falling for unrealistic schemes and losing nearly all of Rocky's money. Especially when Paulie never once apologize or try to make amends. That character is just too unlikeable in this movie. Yet, Rocky is willing to defend him even till in the end. It makes no logical sense. It didn't seem real. The movie would had work better if Rocky was defending his son's honor rather than Paulie. After all, it's Robert that suffer the most from Tommy's actions. As for idea of them, moving back to the slums. It felt like an unrealistic extreme setback. Even with the limited amount of money, they should had been more well off than they were portrayal. Don't get me wrong, 'fall from grace' storylines are great, but unfortunately this felt like a rethread. We already saw them deal with money problems and injuries in the 1979 sequel 'Rocky II'. This film didn't give us, much of anything new. Honestly, the movie would had work better if the 'riches to rags' story took place somewhere else than the Kensington area of Philadelphia. Look I get that having it take place in that area, was obvious attempt to recapture the magic and charm of the original 1976 movie, but awkwardly, it felt more jarring than emotional impactful, especially in parts, such as Rocky visiting his old gym or Adrian being forced to get her old job at the pet shop back. While the director's cut version explains those scenes with more context and reasons with Marie (Jodi Letizia) reprising her role from the first movie as an emotional backdrop. Her scenes near the bar along with some of the flashbacks of Mickey (Burgess Meredith) were sadly cut from the theatrical film. Because of that, we never really got to truly understand why Rocky act the way, he does. It was muddled much in the same way, how Robert age from five to ten between films. Overall: This is the only film in the franchise so far, that I really do hate. Sadly, like most of the audience, this movie was not a huge hit with me. Because of that, it was not quite the knockout, I was hoping for. It truly didn't rock my world.