From: (No Email available)

Date: 2006-03-13 10:57:55

Comment:

Rocky V never had a chance. The collective disappointment over Rocky IV was too potent to allow another sequel a fair glimpse, especially since it was released so closely after that disappointment resonated. The response and general investment in the Rocky saga was basically deflated by the time Rocky V came around, and that unfortunate truth is why it was unfairly plagued. The fifth film in the Rocky saga is unlike anything we?ve seen in movies in some time. The movie is a fascinating, if incomplete adventure that is sorely affected by its surprising unevenness, yet somehow remains spectacular and worthy. Most unnerving is how its flaws are unquestionable evidence that the rumors of Stallone reconstructing the film to please a wider audience are true. This unsavory truth is more frustrating than the worst flaw in any of the movies simply because it feels like none of us have truly seen the complete, absolute vision that the Sly initially created. Nothing is more irking and depressing than watching the flaws of Rocky V and wondering what it really was. And that unpleasantness is punctuated by the fact that so much of the movie is astounding visual and thematic storytelling done with such intensity and passion that you can?t help but enjoy it. When Rocky V works, it is undeniably astonishing. So astonishing, in fact, that it still challenges Rocky IV, III, II, and even the original in certain places. Rocky V was poised to be the epic of the saga, but what it lacks unfortunately kept it away from that accomplishment. As released in theaters, Rocky V works effectively as an enormous adventure, while concluding the philosophical thematic content on a particularly strong note. Many of Rocky IV's faults are still apparent, like certain choices with specific characters and unnecessary subplots, but the main focus is much smoother and concise, not to mention thoroughly entertaining. The narrative is taut and tense in Rocky V, and leaves a considerable amount of interpretation to its audience. Which is not to say Rocky V has no answers for the many questions proposed by its predecessor. One of the epic misunderstandings and downright bewilderments of this final chapter is how surprisingly unsatisfied audiences were by its supposedly ambiguous nature. Rocky V is indeed a conclusion to the story, and a conclusion that answers every single question posed by its two formers through imagery and sub-text, while raising even more complex and universal questions for the viewer to explore. More than any other film in recent memory, Rocky V is a momentous achievement of visual metaphor and thematic symbolism, beautifully intertwined for a strikingly poignant finish to a massively accomplished anthology.