‘Rocky: Ultimate Knockout Collection’ 4K UHD Blu-ray (review)

When I was first asked to review this collection I was almost hesitant because I knew there would be a commitment involved.

Not just of time, but of my mind and heart. It is a lot.

What do I mean?

This franchise has always been really important to me.

I grew up with these films. It is something I could talk about for hours. As it is this whole thing is going to be insanely long.

I first saw the original Rocky on an early version of cable called Star Channel at a family friend’s house.

As a kid I definitely didn’t understand it other than it really made me feel good. And I wanted to watch it again. I was about 5 or 6, I think.

Considered one of the best films of all time and on multiple “Must See” Film Lists, 1976’s Rocky is not only the first sports film to ever win the Best Picture Oscar, it would also go on to become the highest grossing film of the year. Made on a measly estimated $960,000 budget it grossed over $100 million.

The quintessential “underdog” film. This movie would go on to inspire hundreds of other similar films not including the 5 sequels of its own. Nominated for an incredible 10 Academy awards, from its rousing Theme Song “Gonna Fly Now”, to the incredibly written screenplay by star Sylvester Stallone (Who was himself nominated for Best Actor that year), the film would go on to win three of the coveted statues. Best Director for John G. Avildsen, who would go on to direct the first two Karate Kid films, Best Editing, and the aforementioned Best Picture.

Just in case you have never heard of this film or know what it is about, Rocky follows a struggling but talented boxer who works part time for a local, minor mob loan shark as a debt collector. Through a completely random happenstance, Rocky receives an unheard of once in a lifetime opportunity to fight the current heavyweight champion of the world, Apollo Creed.

The incredibly charismatic Creed is looking for someone to replace an injured opponent whom he was supposed to fight him in a highly publicized Bicentennial match in Philadelphia. Deciding instead, to find an “unknown” and “give him a shot” at the title. His management chooses Philadelphia’s own, Rocky Balboa, thinking it will be an almost “sparring” match for Creed and an easy win. Rocky, with the training of local manager Mickey Goldmill, a former fighter himself, treats this as the fight of his life. Knowing this to be his only opportunity at a chance like this, Rocky pours his heart and body into training to win.

Literally everything about this film is perfect. For me the highlights are all the performances by the lead actors. Four of the five would be nominated for Oscars. In fact Stallone, incredibly, would become only the third person to be nominated for both acting and writing Oscars in the same film along with Charlie Chaplin for The Great Dictator and Orson Welles for Citizen Kane.

Along with Stallone, Talia Shire as Adrian, the love interest and absolute heart and soul of the entire franchise, Burgess Meredith as Rocky’s grizzled, hard as nails, no bullshit trainer Mickey, Carl Weathers as the cocky and brash Apollo, and Burt Young as the alcoholic brother to Shire’s Adrian, Paulie; all absolutely shine. Not a single character is miscast and I could never see any of them being played by another actor.

I could go on and on about this film. Just know that this film is an emotional roller coaster journey of perseverance and hope. It will have you cheering and crying at the same time. Whenever I am feeling like the world is against me and nothing is going right, I will put this movie on. I am instantly transported back to my childhood and I feel that uplifting feeling only this movie can give me.

I saw Rocky II as a 8 year old on a Betamax tape my uncle had taped.

With the enormous success of the first film and the success of sequels like The Godfather Part II and The French Connection II it was inevitable that a sequel to the blockbuster first film would happen.

After the stunning conclusion to the first film Apollo finds himself the center of the sports press’ crosshairs. How could the fight have been so close, would there be a rematch? The embarrassed Champ needs to prove that this was a complete fluke, that Rocky’s success was because he didn’t take the fight seriously, and he is still the best in the world.

Meanwhile, Rocky is living his best life, now married to Adrian and expecting their first child, money is pouring in from sponsorships and endorsement deals galore. When Rocky’s seemingly uneducatedness attracts the ire of a commercial director, Rocky finds himself working in the same meat packing plant as his new brother-in-law, Paulie. Rocky decides to return to boxing to Adrian’s concern over his health and well being. When Apollo, fed up with the press hounding him, publicly challenges Rocky to a rematch. Rocky accepts. Adrian vehemently disapproves and Rocky and Mickey begin training against her wishes. When a complication happens with her pregnancy Rocky stops his training to be with her.

As I said before Adrian is the heart of the Rocky films and of the Rocky character himself. When the heart is gone it leaves Rocky aimless and distraught. Mickey worries that Rocky is going to get pulverized out there as Apollo, learning from his past mistake trains harder than he ever has. The ending is exactly what you would want from a film of this type.

Another emotional and inspirational film, Rocky II is the perfect follow up. It neatly ties a bow on the previous story logically continuing what was started in the first. If you only watched these two films you get a complete and whole beautiful story of triumph over insurmountable odds. The final bell has rung. The End.

Rocky II offers more of the same but slightly different than the original recipe. Absolutely wonderful, the script is solid and perfectly captures the feel and spirit of the original. All the actors are great and because almost all the original creators have returned for this continuation. Knowing that the stakes were going to need to be raised, Stallone looked to have lighting strike a second time in the same franchise. And he struck pay dirt.

Stallone wrote and took over the directing reins from John G. Avildsen, the first film’s director (who would return to helm the fifth film) so there isn’t really any adjustment needed to view this fine piece of cinema. I enjoy the heck out of this film and love it as a companion piece to the first.

The budget is bigger, the production values are higher and the film is a little bit more polished looking than the grittiness and almost low budget look of the first. Gone is the guerilla style filmmaking of the first where it looks like they just went out onto the streets of Philly with a camera following Stallone on a run or in the gym. While I like the style of the higher budget I loved and missed the unpolished roughness of the original. Again, I highly recommend this film and if you loved Rocky then Rocky II is a brilliant companion.

Which brings me to Rocky III.

Rocky III was the first Rocky movie I saw in the theater and is an extremely important film in my young life.

I loved this movie. I watched it every time I could when it would air on cable. I love it now.

I will say that watching it again for the first time as a much older adult, This movie hits very different from when I was a snot nosed teen ready to take on the world.

I also know that this is where the Rocky franchise stops becoming an underdog story and a story about commercialism and excess. About losing oneself in the quagmire of success and one’s own hubris. The parallels of the Rocky franchise and Stallone’s own success are almost two parallel running high speed freight trains that will eventually run out of rails. Some might say this is where they start to go off the rails entirely.

Rocky III is about how success and money has made Rocky and his family “soft” and privileged. He has lost that thirst and hunger to prove himself. Instead he has come to expect certain luxuries and though taking his boxing seriously, he is also not fighting the best of the best. The young and hungry fighters. Mickey for his part is making sure that Rocky is not put in too much danger and does just enough to stay on top.

Clubber Lang, phenomenally played by Mr. T., is a terror of a raw and ambitious fighter who wants his chance at the Championship belt. At the unveiling of a statue to honor Rocky as Philadelphia’s son and champ Lang verbally attacks Rocky and his family because he believes Rocky is avoiding him, afraid to fight as real challenger. Rocky, confused at this statement, says he will fight him anytime anywhere. Mickey, who has been following Clubber’s rise through the boxing ranks, knows that Lang has a real shot at not only beating Rocky but hurting him both physically and mentally.

Rocky, thinking Lang is a joke, isn’t taking the fight as seriously as he should. His training turns into circus show type spectacle while Lang digs deep and trains as if his life depends on it. A series of tragedies happen before the fight that really mess with Rocky’s head. Rocky gets clobbered and his body and spirit are ruined, possibly forever.

Enter Apollo Creed. Creed offers to train Rocky but is reluctant to be trained by his former opponent. Both men with the support of Adrian and Paulie, get Rocky back the “Eye of the Tiger” and return Rocky to the ring for a final duel with Clubber Lang which promises to be his most brutal match-up of his life up to now.

Rocky III is ridiculous and I still love this movie. It is tailor made for teenage kids and early twenty somethings who grew up with the Rocky films as kids.

Everything that made the first two films brilliant isn’t so much gone; it is more like Stallone, who both wrote and directed this film as well, injected the franchise with a cocktail of adrenalin, a touch of methamphetamines, with a shot or two of steroids. It is really a non-stop action film at this point.

Montages galore, a blazing soundtrack featuring the Quintessential 80’s workout anthem “Eye of the Tiger” by Survivor (who would return to sing the next film’s title track “The Burning Heart” as well.

Everything about this film is turned up to 15 and then some. The fights are brutal, if not, absolutely unreal, the training sequences are intense but hokey, and the emotions while high are almost comical at this point.

Again, I love it.

I also have a hard time recommending it to anyone who was born after the year 2000 as it is such a perfect 80’s film. The excess and glamor of the high-octane, cocaine fueled fever dream that was the early 80’s is on display to its fullest in this film. That alone if a study to watch unfold as the minutes tick by on the 99 minute run time. This is why I say that you can watch Rocky I & II and be satisfied with a complete and beautiful story of overcoming the odds to succeed.

Man, where do I start with Rocky IV?

Do I begin with talking about how I was a full blown Cold War Kid?

How I was 13 when the original Rocky IV came out?

How I was completely indoctrinated by Reagan and his fight against Communism by that time?

Decked out in my “All-American Commie Buster” tee shirt complete with Russian Soldier in the red circle with the slash through it á la Ghostbusters, I was ready to defend my adopted country from the eminent Red Wave shown to me by John Milius and the Wolverines a year earlier and a year before Pete “Maverick” Mitchell had me convinced I wanted to fly F-14 Tomcats.

So much so I made it my mission to get into Annapolis; a feat I almost accomplished until early into my junior year of high school I decided I wanted to be an artist and filmmaker instead.

Or do I begin on how I always loved the Rocky films and how when Rocky IV came out I saw it in the theaters like 5 times and then watched pretty much every airing of it I could on the various cable channels whenever I could?

How I filled a VHS tape with 4 copies of the film then watched that until it disintegrated?

No, I think I will begin this review by saying that I think that this re-edit by Sylvester Stallone is a fascinating and curious study on how we age and grow and peering at the past through today’s eyes really gives us a sense of where were were as a person at the time and who we are now are very different and more reflective.

A warning from here on that this review will contain spoilers for this almost 40 year old film, so be warned.

I very much enjoyed this new cut of such a quintessentially 80’s film through the mature director’s eyes, a man in his late 70’s and even though it is essentially the same run time (I believe it is only 2 minutes longer) overall it is a much less bombastic and “Fuck yeah, Eighties!” film.

What do I mean by that?

I mean, there are some films that can really only exist in their true form in the 1980’s. They could have only been made in the 1980’s decade of decadence, cocaine fueled, Reaganomics. Red Dawn, The Karate Kid, Rocky III & IV, Rambo, Wall Steet, etc. (Not Cobra Kai, that is an entirely different beast altogether), the sequel to Wall Street.

Take these films out of the 80’s and they don’t work.

When I first heard that Sylvester Stallone was heading back and recutting this film into something new that we had never seen before, I was extremely doubtful.

Why mess with perfection? Not that Rocky IV was ever a good movie but it was a movie of its time and a perfect example of where we were as a society in America at the time. During lock down, I followed Stallone’s journey as he posted about the work he was doing on the film. I was fascinated to see.

What Stallone has done here is try to recut and rejigger Rocky IV into a more character based personal film sort of in the vein of his original film and the incredible Rocky Balboa and away from the more excessive ridiculousness the film is inherently full of. He has cut and replaced over 38 minutes of alternate and longer takes to try and achieve this.

He has removed a lot of the weird and awkward comedic things like Paulie’s really strange hyper sexualized robot birthday present and party and replaced it with a longer introduction of the fight with Clubber Lang from the previous film. He then cuts to an extended talk with Apollo in Micky’s Club. Entire sequences are removed and replaced with more character development. We get a better sense of Apollo’s unhappiness with his retirement and his “legacy”. There are a few jumpy, awkward cuts, I am assuming because Stallone didn’t have the shot coverage to do exactly what he wanted to do with this edit; however overall it works and the point is driven home.

Where Stallone succeeds is in trying to make this a more character driven story. Adrian has more dialogue really showing how she really is the voice of reason. Apollo becomes more of the tragic catalyst through added dialogue showing how he is even more desperate to be the center of attention once again even if it means he has to die, something he knows is almost inevitable.

Rocky is shown to blame himself personally for Apollo’s death. Drago is an actual character in this film now. Though he has more dialogue, by more I mean a couple of lines, Stallone actually uses a lot of cutting room floor reaction shots by Dolph Lundgren to show he is not as okay as he was shown in the previous cut at being a puppet for the Motherland.

Where this experiment fails is that in the end it is Rocky IV. A film made in and of its time. It doesn’t have the grit and the solemnness required to make it truly what I think Stallone wishes it could be. A film about accepting one’s age and that past glories fade and we are sometimes forgotten. It is a highly polished film made when looking good no matter what was happening to you was important. Where everything had to be new and shiny.

There was a strange patina to pop culture and media in the 1980’s that few films and shows today can replicate properly. Stallone has the opposite problem here, he can’t grub up this shiny flashy film enough to make it the more serious character driven film that his original Rocky or the 2006 Rocky Balboa  did with aplomb.

Overall, I did enjoy this version of the film that I could recite, even now, by heart and memory. And once I got ast my own preconceived notions of what to expect, again, I know this film verbatim, I was able to sit back and enjoy what Stallone attempted and give him a lot of props for trying something new with it.

If you are a fan of the Rocky series I definitely recommend you check out this reimagining of “What could have been” if Rocky IV was not made in the decade of decadence and excess.

Rocky V gets a really bad rap as a terrible film. While it is in no way as good as the first two films or not as fun as the third and fourth films, I love that it takes a chance and breaks from the Rocky formula in almost every sense.

Stallone has said in the past that he did it for a paycheck. He even rated it a zero when asked to rate the Rocky films from 1 to 10, considering it the worst of the Rocky movies.

I think what I like about this film is what others, at the time, didn’t. I liked that it was trying to return Rocky to a more grounded and humanistic tale much like the first two films.

After the utter bombastic, commercial, and over the top ridiculous excessive nature that parts 3 and 4 became I thought it was a great idea to have Rocky return to his roots, as it were.

Rocky V picks up literally minutes after the finale of the no holds-barred-brain-damage assault on our senses of Rocky IV.

We find Rocky hunched over in the shower calling out to Duke, his trainer, to get Adrian. She finds him on a bench hunched over not looking too well and complaining about headaches and that his hands won’t stop shaking. Rocky has severe brain trauma that not only will affect his career but his life.

Returning home he finds his world has also been turned upside down. He is forced to move back to his old neighborhood to the house that Paulie and Adrian used to live in during the events of the first two films.

Back in his old neighborhood and picking up his life from where he started, Rocky relies on his family and they on him to get by. That is until a young and hungry boxer named Tommy Gunn appears. Tommy is looking to be trained by the former champ. Rocky reluctantly accepts.

In doing so Rocky unwittingly begins to choose the adrenaline pumping lifestyle of boxing over his troubled family. This especially affects his young teen son who, given the upheaval in his life at such a crucial age where he needs stability, is left feeling even more abandoned and alone.

Rocky focuses all his efforts and energy on training this new protege and through a classic training montage as well as a fight montage, we see that as Tommy’s career and skills grow Rocky’s son, Robert’s school life and home life falls apart.

In a series of dramatic “we all saw this coming” events Tommy is seduced by a brash and charismatic boxing promoter, George W. Duke. Played impeccably by Richard Grant doing a not so subtle homage to the infamous real life promoter Don King, Duke embodies all that is wrong with the system in the boxing world, everything Rocky is trying to protect the impressionable Tommy from.

Duke’s real mission is to get Rocky to return to boxing against his doctors and wife’s wishes and box Tommy in a teacher against student fight of the century, netting himself a huge cash payout in the process.

The film ends with Duke partially getting what he wishes for in one of the coolest endings of a Rocky movie. Rocky and Tommy wind up fighting in the alleys and streets of Rocky’s home turf outside of the local bar.

No gloves, no mercy, down and dirty, this fight is super cool and nothing like what we are used to in a traditional Rocky movie.

Which is probably why it failed.

Rocky IV was such a success that Stallone worried, like most actors of that era, of being pigeon-holed into the Rocky character or similar roles forever. He started branching out into other types of movies, none of which the public really wanted to or expected him to be in.

After a string of box office failures and only some lukewarm successes, Stallone saw his career waning and his popularity starting to recede. I think his fading fame and success rate at the box office took the steam out of his confidence and so when he was asked to do another Rocky film he said yes because it had always been a sure fire hit. I feel he saw this as an opportunity. He took this recent hit in his ego to heart and poured it into the writing of this film and thus not only would he be able to make a new, popular Rocky film he could return himself back to the top of his own game.

By writing a poignant, more grittier Rocky film and returning the character back to the more humble beginnings that won him an Oscar nomination in 1977 he could give the audience what he thought they wanted but even more so he could give himself something he wanted.

A chance to prove that he was a champ once again. He would even bring back original Rocky director John G. Avildson to direct. So life and fiction would semi parallel one another and he could redeem his career while giving Rocky an unnecessary redemption at the same time.

Unfortunately the audience didn’t want to see a down and out Rocky, even if that Rocky wins in the end through heart, perseverance and a bad ass fight.

People wanted another Rocky film (good thing he didn’t kill Rocky off like he had done in the earlier drafts of the script). Fans wanted more of the excitement and feel good raucous triumph of Rocky IV. The film broke away too much from the formula for the 1990 audience to handle and it paid the price.

People weren’t ready for this. They wouldn’t be ready for it until the 2006 tour de force of Rocky Balboa but I’ll be getting into that in my next review.

I think that Rocky V is a fine entry to the Rocky saga. It is what it set out to do and the only real blemish in the film is that Tommy Morrison, who plays the just slightly too enthusiastic and cartoonish Tommy “The Machine” Gunn can’t act his way out of a paper bag. He comes off as if he is “acting” in a WWE skit the entire time and really takes me out of the already fragile world built around the franchise. And that’s saying something.

When Rocky Balboa was originally released in 2006 I went into this screening not expecting much. Having not much faith in an elderly Rocky basically redoing Rocky V, but more brittle and not really seeing the point of it as, unlike most people, I mostly enjoyed Rocky V when it came out and up to that time.

What I saw blew my mind.

“Flabbergasted” would be putting what I saw lightly.

This movie has absolutely no cause to be as brilliant as it was.

And still is.

Rocky Balboa is fantastic cinema. Raw, heart-wrenching, leap from your seat inspiring entertainment. I was completely blown away that this movie existed. I was so incredibly moved and in awe that I came home that I told my wife that I had to go back and see it the next day and that she needed to come with me. She was like, “okaaaay…,” but knew when I am like this, the movie must be amazing.

Like me, she didn’t know how it could possibly be as great as I was expounding it to be but I told her to trust me. It is now her third favorite Rocky movie after the original and first sequel.

The very core essence of the entire Rocky saga has always been honor and respect. Respect for others, respect for living, and respect for yourself.

Rocky Balboa is no exception and it comes in, wave after wave, in this film.

The film is a beautiful study paralleling an aging former champion, past the end of his career, looking back at what he has and hasn’t accomplished in his waning years while a young, tough, current champion looks ahead at what his legacy is so far and what it has the potential to be.

The story is so skillfully handled by Stallone in this film though a tight script and gritty filmmaking style that made the original so perfect. It only gives you what you need, trimming the extraneous, leaving a lean, perfectly executed film that is full of hope and triumph.

This is a Rocky film.

This is the film that Rocky V wanted to be 16 years earlier. I think Stallone wasn’t in a place to be able to tell it back then. This film is the perfect apogee of the entire franchise (yes I know it continues on though the Creed Films but this specific series is what I am talking about).

I honestly don’t know how to tell you the plot of this movie without ruining any of the brilliance of the wonderful storytelling this film and writer director Stallone has actually crafted.

We see Rocky having been retired for some time now and having made major adjustments in his life through a combination of age and life events both good and tragic. It has been 16 years since the events of Rocky V and for the most part those events aren’t really mentioned here.

So really it is 21 years since Rocky fought the USSR and Ivan Drago in Rocky IV. He spends his days running a small restaurant (probably inspired by real life boxer Jack Dempsey doing the same after retirement) where he tells old “war stories” of past fights to the patrons.

Outside of his time at the establishment he has been running through events in his past over and over again since becoming a widower three years ago. His family worries about him and offers support where they can.

No matter how down and out he feels, Rocky, whose big heart is always swelling with kindness, still never hesitates to help others where he can.

Dixon, whose reputation as a fake champion because he hasn’t really faced any truly worthy challengers in the ring has lost the respect of his fans. Dixon’s management is concerned that his current negative rep will impact his financial worth.

Dixon decides to go back to his former trainer who offers him advice telling him that he has to learn to respect himself before anyone else will.

Fighting inner demons and coping with loss, Rocky applies for and is granted a boxing license. Hoping to find a little self respect by doing the one thing he knows how to do. Hoping this will help him process all the anger, frustration, and sadness life has thrown at him.

Through a series of seemingly random happenings Rocky is given the offer to box one more time in an exhibition match with the current heavyweight champ, Mason Dixon. Rocky decides this is his one last chance to go out on his terms so that he can finally rid himself of the beast he feels deep within and respect himself so he can live a full and complete life no longer chained down by the past.

There is so much I want to say about this film but I don’t know how to without spoiling it for those who haven’t seen it. I want to talk about how this film really affected me with all the emotions and cathartic feelings.

How it resonated with me on a molecular level. How every speech and conversation about respect, aging, pain, loss, and legacy all gave me such hope and optimism. How every character’s individual situation was at one time or another my situation and I drew such insight and motivation in how they handled themselves.

Yes, I know. This film is eighteen years old and anyone who hasn’t seen it probably won’t and those who have know. But I still live by the old Stan Lee edict that every comic is somebody’s first comic so I try not to spoil anything if I can.

I will go so far as to say that this film, for me, is equal to the original and holds all the same values, hopes and dreams as its seminal installment just from opposite ends of the life cycle.

As a movie, visually this movie is so sophisticated in its cinematography, editing, and storytelling. It is the perfect climax to the Balboa story. This film returns the character to its humble, gritty, original roots in the way that Rocky V failed to. The use of film and HD video to differentiate between the story and the final PPV fight is great because it really updates how boxing matches are seen in today’s world via pay-per-view or streaming/cable.

Stallone has truly captured lighting in a bottle visually and story wise in that it really matches the look and feel of the first two films so well. I cannot overstate how well made this film is.

This movie is about digging deep to find that piece of you that won’t give up. Whether it is on your dream, your future, a project, your life itself.

This is a film about hope; regardless of age. It is about not giving up no matter what life throws at you and should you stumble, pick yourself up and if you can’t find loved ones to help you. There is an incredible speech in this film among so many (this film treats inspirational speeches like Rocky IV treats inspirational music) where Rocky, speaking to his estranged son tells him that nothing hits you as hard as life will and it isn’t about how hard you hit it is about how hard you can be hit and still keep moving forward.

It is incredible and I will say that my wife and I watch this movie at least once a year around the holidays because it is the most difficult time of year for me and when I need it the most. This year I watched it early to write this review and I will say that I cried tears of the most ugly kind throughout this movie. In fact my wife, who had other things to do that day, walked into the room with the intention of passing through, stopped, sat down, and watched the entire movie with me.

As I age, I was 33 when this movie came out and am now 51. I have to say that not only does this film speak to me now as much as then but even more so as time takes more and more things away from me. I have to keep adjusting to the ever shifting dunes of existence.

The director’s cut of this film re-inserts about 80% of the footage that was presented in the earlier editions as deleted scenes. All of which I thought were excellent and liked. Whether or not it all needed to be reinserted I’m still not sure about.

The very specific exception to this is all of the extra footage featuring Paulie. Burt Young particularly shines in this film as the broken heart of this movie. He is the cynical foil to Rocky’s pure heart. When Paulie finally breaks you want to run over and hold him tight. It ruins me every time. His performance especially, in this film, is Oscar worthy. Some of the other excised footage is great to see but not completely necessary.

The alternate take of Rocky going to an old neighborhood bar he used to frequent in the older films was nice because of the deep cut supporting character it re-introduces but you’d have to be a pretty die hard fan to know who it is and the version used in the theatrical version is a lot more streamlined and does the job nicely.

As I said in the beginning of this review the theatrical cut is lean and perfectly presented. The new footage at points can bog down the story’s pacing but not terribly. I can honestly take it or leave it. Except for Paulie. All his scenes are 100% welcome.

Extras include commentaries, featurettes, behind-the-scenes home movies, making of doc, trailers, alternate cuts, and deleted scenes.

Embrace these movies. Just as inspirational life affirming films, they stand above so many others.

The life of Rocky Balboa is a beautiful and engrossing story that should not be missed.