Post by Doomsday on Nov 15, 2014 11:01:10 GMT -5
This is going to be less about the merits of Rocky V as a stand alone film and more of the current thoughts that people have regarding Rocky V in general. When people talk bad sequels Rocky V is always mentioned towards the top with Batman & Robin or Blues Brothers 2000 (remember THAT movie?). So why did I decide to give this supposed stinker a go on a dull afternoon? Let's begin.
I went to a showing of Rocky IV a few months ago. Dolph Lundgren was in person and did a little Q&A to help promote Expendables 3. As I was watching Rocky IV, a movie that I watched dozens upon dozens of times as a teenager but hadn't watched in around a decade, I noticed how clunky and choppy and poorly constructed it was as an actual movie. Granted, nobody has ever accused Rocky IV of being a work of cinematic art, however it is held to pretty high esteem among action-adventure movie fans. You'd be hard pressed to find anyone who isn't an underground indie art film junkie who would admit to actively disliking Rocky IV. I decided I would watch the Rocky movies again if only to revisit the movies I loved as a kid. My immediate findings were that Rocky still held up, Rocky II isn't very good at all even if it was a carbon copy of the original and Rocky III helped mold the caricature that Rocky would later become. All I knew was that it was fine to skip Rocky V because it's universally considered to be garbage.
But then I thought of something. If I didn't enjoy Rocky IV nearly as much as I used to even from a nostalgic standpoint, what would that mean for Rocky V? There was only one way to find out.
The opening of Rocky V takes place in the locker room immediately after his fight with Ivan Drago from Rocky IV. Rocky's hands are shaking, he's confused and scared. We find out Rocky has brain damage and has also been swindled out of his fortune meaning he's back on the tough streets of Philly. In these opening scenes there is more depth and exploration into character than in the previous three movies combined. Rocky goes onto train Tommy Gunn, a tough fighter living on the streets, and relive his glory through him. Things go stale between the two thanks to a heartless promoter which leads to a tough street fight to see who claims the title of true champion.
Rocky V certainly has its faults. Many scenes especially in the final fight are campy and Rocky acts like he's had a frontal lobotomy. The movie itself however is a pretty solid watch. Actually, many scenes range from fine to really, really good. No movie in the series since the original gives Rocky more scope and purpose. You sympathize with Rocky while his life crumbles around his always positive self. We don't see Rocky from the previous film who fights simply because the script dictates him to do so (the movie tells you it's because Apollo died but there's really no reasoning behind it). The point is, Rocky V isn't nearly the film that it's reputation suggests. Directed by John G. Avildsen who directed the original, you can see that he invests more in what surrounds Rocky than what leads up to the final showdown. There's no training montage of lifting rocks and carriages. There's no campy 80s music or cheap motivational speeches. It's a movie that is actually trying to be a movie.
And that's why people hate it. It's a movie that isn't trying to be Rocky IV. It's a movie that backpedals from these ridiculous heights that the series had become. Fans of the series are generally please with Rocky Balboa but it's because it goes back to the formula of before. It's a pretty safe movie by Rocky standards. Rocky V is something that tried to carry on while retaining the spirit of the original. It does this better than any movie that came before. Ask fans why they like Rocky III and IV the best. It's BECAUSE they're ridiculous. It's BECAUSE they have the montages and the overblown scenes. Sure, on that basis Rocky V does fail. As a movie though it succeeds better than any other Rocky sequel.
So put me in the extreme minority of people who enjoyed Rocky V. In fact I'm convinced that the detractors haven't even watched the film and if they have they're probably like me. They watched it at an age where Rocky IV would have been their all time favorite and wrote it off. Time to give it another crack I say.
I went to a showing of Rocky IV a few months ago. Dolph Lundgren was in person and did a little Q&A to help promote Expendables 3. As I was watching Rocky IV, a movie that I watched dozens upon dozens of times as a teenager but hadn't watched in around a decade, I noticed how clunky and choppy and poorly constructed it was as an actual movie. Granted, nobody has ever accused Rocky IV of being a work of cinematic art, however it is held to pretty high esteem among action-adventure movie fans. You'd be hard pressed to find anyone who isn't an underground indie art film junkie who would admit to actively disliking Rocky IV. I decided I would watch the Rocky movies again if only to revisit the movies I loved as a kid. My immediate findings were that Rocky still held up, Rocky II isn't very good at all even if it was a carbon copy of the original and Rocky III helped mold the caricature that Rocky would later become. All I knew was that it was fine to skip Rocky V because it's universally considered to be garbage.
But then I thought of something. If I didn't enjoy Rocky IV nearly as much as I used to even from a nostalgic standpoint, what would that mean for Rocky V? There was only one way to find out.
The opening of Rocky V takes place in the locker room immediately after his fight with Ivan Drago from Rocky IV. Rocky's hands are shaking, he's confused and scared. We find out Rocky has brain damage and has also been swindled out of his fortune meaning he's back on the tough streets of Philly. In these opening scenes there is more depth and exploration into character than in the previous three movies combined. Rocky goes onto train Tommy Gunn, a tough fighter living on the streets, and relive his glory through him. Things go stale between the two thanks to a heartless promoter which leads to a tough street fight to see who claims the title of true champion.
Rocky V certainly has its faults. Many scenes especially in the final fight are campy and Rocky acts like he's had a frontal lobotomy. The movie itself however is a pretty solid watch. Actually, many scenes range from fine to really, really good. No movie in the series since the original gives Rocky more scope and purpose. You sympathize with Rocky while his life crumbles around his always positive self. We don't see Rocky from the previous film who fights simply because the script dictates him to do so (the movie tells you it's because Apollo died but there's really no reasoning behind it). The point is, Rocky V isn't nearly the film that it's reputation suggests. Directed by John G. Avildsen who directed the original, you can see that he invests more in what surrounds Rocky than what leads up to the final showdown. There's no training montage of lifting rocks and carriages. There's no campy 80s music or cheap motivational speeches. It's a movie that is actually trying to be a movie.
And that's why people hate it. It's a movie that isn't trying to be Rocky IV. It's a movie that backpedals from these ridiculous heights that the series had become. Fans of the series are generally please with Rocky Balboa but it's because it goes back to the formula of before. It's a pretty safe movie by Rocky standards. Rocky V is something that tried to carry on while retaining the spirit of the original. It does this better than any movie that came before. Ask fans why they like Rocky III and IV the best. It's BECAUSE they're ridiculous. It's BECAUSE they have the montages and the overblown scenes. Sure, on that basis Rocky V does fail. As a movie though it succeeds better than any other Rocky sequel.
So put me in the extreme minority of people who enjoyed Rocky V. In fact I'm convinced that the detractors haven't even watched the film and if they have they're probably like me. They watched it at an age where Rocky IV would have been their all time favorite and wrote it off. Time to give it another crack I say.
