I was privileged to receive early screening passes to see the sixth installment in the Rocky series and have to say that I was very pleased with Stallone's production. And I want to warn you that I am going to spoil the plot line if you continue to read this post but nobody goes to see Rocky movies because of the plot lines.

And like all the movies in this series, the plot isn't very complicated. Rocky is still learning to live in a world without his beloved wife Adrian who died of "the woman cancer" three years prior to the beginning of the movie. His son is struggling with living in the shadow of his famous father. Pauly is coming to peace with the cranky assholish way he's lived his life (and yes, he's still working at that frigging meat packing plant) and the nemesis of the ring, Mason "The Line" Dixon is struggling with not being able to find an opponent who challenges his heart in the ring, who can make him go the distance.

This movie is the swan song of the series that Rocky V tried to be but fell slightly short of becoming. There are quite a few old and friendly trinkets that come up like the fully aged and grown turtles cuff and link that Rocky bought from Adrian's pet shop in the first movie. Spider Rico (the boxer who Rocky opens up the first movie fighting and who head butted him with a cheap shot) is now a reformed man of God who works as a dishwasher in Rocky's restaurant (named "Adrian's" of course, established in 1995). The little girl who Rocky walked home from the Atomic Hoagie shop in the first movie (the one he had to use a bad word with--"whore" and who told him "screw you, creepo") becomes a good friend to Rocky. The painting from Rocky III where Rocky and Apollo punch each other in the final seconds is now hanging on the wall of his restaurant and we get to see him down an amazing five eggs at once from possibly the same dirty ass glass.

Oh, and don't forget the latest version of the classic song "Take It Back" which will never sound better than when the five guys sang it over the dumpster fire in the first movie Hall and Oats style.

But this movie is distinctly different from the others in the series in that it is all about heart. On his magnificent classic rap album No One Can Do It Better, The D.O.C. said, "You may think I speak of music/but I speak of coming up." Well, you may think this movie is about boxing but it's about coming up. It's about self respect--how to lose it, how to get it and how to fight your ass off to keep it.

On a technical aspect, the fight scenes are filmed totally different than any of the other Rocky movies, resembling an actual fight. You can tell Stallone learned a great deal from his time producing the amazing first season of The Contender with Sugar Ray Leonard.

And while the training part of the movie is pretty good--nothing beats the training montage in Rocky IV when Hearts on Fire is playing and he's doing those reverse crunches on his head--that still gets me pumped up every time I watch it.

Look--this movie is going to get made fun of but people all over the world inherently love the character of Rocky for the same reason that people love the concept of America--because it's simple. It's easy. It feels right--even when it falls short. And stories don't become myths because of the trickery of their plot lines (The DaVinci Code will never be a mythology despite its fascinating story line). Stories become myths because they feel right inside our hearts and allow our minds to suspend disbelief just long enough to let a little magic seep back in from beyond the borders of rationality and provincialism.

I do recommend that you see this movie because there are far worse ways to spend an hour and a half than in saying goodbye to an American icon as he walks into the limelight of a sunset that feels right. There are no losers in this movie; everbody wins. The movie is more about saying goodbye to the ultimate underdog as he overcomes one more impossible odd. Don't forget that Rocky has never been about winning; it's always about going the distance--even when he won.

Rocky Balboa gives you a warm feeling like going back and kissing the person you lost your virginity to--it's not the best you've ever had but it sure beats kissing a pig.

Has Uncle Josh ever lied to ya?

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Rocky Balboa Sylvester Stallone Film Review