Rocky Balboa was released on DVD yesterday, and naturally I picked it up on my way home from work. When it became a reality that Rocky 6 was actually going to happen I think everyone had the same thought, “Oh no, please Sly not another one.” I mean let’s face it, the last movie was abysmal, and at the time that was 16 years ago. After hearing a couple interviews with Sly and seeing the trailer for the film, my opinion changed. It seemed that the reason he wanted to do it was to redeem himself for the crap called Rocky V. By my account, and most others, he sure did redeem himself and then some. This was not an oscar caliber movie, but it brought Rocky back to his roots, just an everyday guy from South Philly filled with heart and courage. It brought us back to what made Rocky so fantastic, trying to prove he belonged, even when noone around him thought he did. You always hear stories about how the first movie changed peoples lives, it gave them hope. That message was somewhat lost after all the sequels and all the campiness that followed.

I love Rocky, I love Rocky II, I enjoy Rocky III and Rocky IV based soley on the fact that it’s Rocky. Plus anytime one man, and a boxer at that, can single handedly end the Cold War it has to be an entertaining movie. But V, ugh, it’s just so bad that it’s almost hard to watch at times. At this point the only good thing that came out of it was the fact that he felt the need to do this film because of how bad V was.

Anyone who is a fan of the Rocky movies needs to see this movie. You’ll feel better about the whole franchise if you do. Anyone who is from the Philadelphia area needs to see this movie as it shows the city beautifully. This film, like Rocky himself, is all heart and once again proves that you can achieve your dream if you believe, if you never give up. It provided the perfect closure for the franchise, (christ even Spider Rico makes an appearance). So, thank you Sly for having the proper send off to Rocky and making us all forget about that trainwreck called Rocky V. “Yo Sly, you did it!”