I have to admit it, I actually want to see the new Rocky film, Rocky Balboa. And I will readily admit that I had bashed the whole concept when I first heard about it. But after seeing a few of the commercials they’ve managed to perk my interest. After Rocky V I can say I was quite jaded on the prospect of future installments. But in seeing the trailers and hearing Sylvester Stallone talk about it, I get the impression this project has a little more modesty to it. He knows Rocky V sucked. He knows his career is in the crapper. He knows people will see right through his attempt to resurrect his career. So deep down, he knows this movie will have to be good, or else he’ll be making budget action movies alongside the likes of Hulk Hogan and Roddy Piper for the rest of his career.

The thing is, he did create the original Rocky when he was a nobody, and it vaulted his career to superstardom. As Stallone’s career and ego escalated, the quality of the Rocky films deteriorated. They went from being a drama about a nobody underdog with a million to one shot at glory to Rocky becoming a larger then life superhero, complete with robot butler. Now 30 years after the original Stallone is trying put together the pieces of what will be his movie legacy. Rocky is again the underdog, well past his prime, when he gets drawn back in. This may sound contrived, but just look at the sport of boxing in general. Everyone remembers George Foreman and his comeback to win the title. Evander Holyfield is still kicking around thinking he can make a run at the title. Looking at wrestling Ric Flair and Hulk Hogan are still involved in wrestling well into their 50′s. The bottomline is that people in the business of getting beaten up for a living just don’t seem to know when to hang it up. So using this premise Rocky Balboa is coming back to the big screens for one last time.

The movie has actually been getting some good reviews on Rotten Tomatoes, enough to warrant a Fresh rating of 65%. The reviews seem to echo the same sentiment, that this movie is much closer to the original, Academy Award winning Rocky movie then the 4 films that followed. Which is definitely a good thing. It’s good to see the franchise come full circle.

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