Rocky V

Starring: Sylvester Stallone, Talia Shire, Burt Young, Carl Weathers, Burgess Meredith, Tommy Morrison, Sage Stallone
Directed by: John G. Avildsen
Rating: PG-13
Genre: Sports, Drama
1990

Times Seen:
Tim: 1

Summary: Rocky Balboa (Sylvester Stallone) loses all his money and is forced to move his family back to his old neighborhood. This causes problems with Adrian (Talie Shire) and his son (Sage Stallone). The situation becomes more complicated when Rocky agrees to train a young hotshot boxer (Tommy Morrison).

Review:

Tim: So this is what it comes to. There were warning signs. Everything pointed to arriving at this point sooner or later. This is the film where everything falls apart, and a once-great franchise completely unravels. This is a bad movie. I would have rated it far, far worse, but I had so much goodwill from the first three Rocky movies that I just couldn't hate this bomb as much as I should have.

This film has so many flaws that I don't even know where to begin. Rather than discuss the plethora of problems, I'll focus on the biggest, worst, most damaging flaw of all... Rocky doesn't fight a boxing match in this film. Read that again. The Rocky franchise is built on climactic, heart-pumping boxing matches. Here, he's engaged in a silly streetfight that ultimately serves no purpose whatsoever.

The main cast is all good, because they've been playing these roles before. Sage Stallone was horribly miscast as Stallone's son (and that is saying something). Tommy Morrison is just ridiculous and detracts from the film every second he is on screen.

Now, I love the Rocky movies. I'm a huge fan, so much, in so, that I applaud this film for its strengths- including showing the dark side of boxing. But, don't be fooled. This is an awful film, and should never have been made.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: 5.5



If You Enjoyed This Movie, We Recommend:
Rocky, Rocky II, Rocky III, Rocky IV, First Blood, Raging Bull, Rocky Balboa