Rocky Balboa (2006) * * *

Directed by:  Sylvester Stallone

Starring:  Sylvester Stallone, Burt Young, Milo Ventimiglia, Antonio Tarver, Geraldine Hughes, Tony Burton, A.J. Benza

I must admit that after Rocky IV and Rocky V, I had little interest in Rocky Balboa, the sixth installment in the Rocky series.   However, I enjoyed it for the most part because it contains some genuinely touching dramatic moments.  It provides a glimpse into the world of Rocky Balboa after his ring years ended.   

Rocky still lives in South Philly.    Adrian has been dead for about a decade due to "woman cancer" as Rocky puts it as only he can.  He owns a small restaurant named after her and he regales customers with stories of his boxing days.  We even see Spider Ricco (the boxer Rocky defeated in the opening brawl of the original film)  hanging around doing odd jobs.  Rocky stills pals around with Paulie (Young), who works again at the meat-packing plant Rocky used for training.  Times get tough for Paulie, who is laid off after many years on the job.  

Rocky's son Robert (Ventimiglia) is a stockbroker who can't escape the fact that people only associate with him because he is Rocky Balboa's son.   He believes, perhaps correctly, that the only reason he is employed is because his bosses are Rocky fans.   Due to this, he maintains a distant, evasive relationship with his father.  Rocky also befriends Marie (Hughes), who was the teenage girl he had a long conversation with in the original film.   ("If you hang out with yo-yos, you get yo-yo friends.")   Marie is all grown up now and they begin a supportive friendship that may one day blossom into love. 

Balboa, despite seeming reasonably happy with his life, decides to reapply for a boxing license.   The 60ish Balboa is awarded the license after an impassioned speech to the boxing commission.  He wants to fight a few local fights because he feels the urge the fight again.  He dubs this as "The Beast", which he explains is something that ex-fighters go through when they spend their whole lives fighting and then try to adjust to life away from the ring.   Rocky is unexpectedly thrown back into the spotlight after an ESPN piece airs stating that Rocky would win a computerized fight with current heavyweight champion Mason "The Line" Dixon (played by real-life fighter Antonio Tarver).  The name Mason "The Line" Dixon doesn't quite hold up when compared to names like Apollo Creed and Clubber Lang.  

Dixon, feeling a mite disrespected, wants to fight Balboa in the ring to prove he can beat him.  Rocky is 60 and has arthritic joints, but Dixon doesn't care.  I was reminded of the dialogue in Coming To America where one character says how Rocky Marciano beat Joe Louis in a fight and another responds, "Joe Louis was 78 years old when they fought."  Dixon doesn't seem to realize that the computer was gauging Balboa in his prime, but oh never mind.

Rocky Balboa, like every other Rocky film, is geared towards the fight at the end.  The fight, of course, is competitive and goes the 12-round distance.   Rocky getting pummeled in one round would be a realistic ending most likely, but not the one Rocky fans are looking for, so the fight is choreographed to have Rocky stand a puncher's chance of beating the champion who is 30 years his junior.

The movie works better when it explores Rocky's life as he tries to move on from the ring.  This may be the first Rocky film in which Paulie isn't tipsy in every scene he's in, so the two actually have meaningful conversations and we see what is at the heart of their friendship.   I also enjoyed the payoff of Robert's issues, which involve a heart-to-heart with his father.   Dixon's manager L.C. Luko (Benza) isn't a slick villain like George Washington Duke in Rocky V.    He just wants to promote a fight because that's how he earns his living and he sees an angle which will earn his client money and respect.   

I won't say who wins the fight.  It's immaterial to what makes Rocky Balboa a fitting ending to the series.  Instead, its strengths lie in seeing some life breathed into characters that had become stale over the course of the previous five films.  I see no need for Stallone to proceed with a seventh installment.  The last thing we need is Rocky battling in the ring looking like Burgess Meredith.