The Rocky series is one of the most, if not the most, beloved sports film franchise of all time. In 1976, Sylvester Stallone helped bring a true underdog story to life, as an unknown nobody, Rocky Balboa, got his shot to take on the best boxer in the world, Apollo Creed. While Rocky would lose the initial matchup between the two, Rocky would prove that he had the heart of the champion, and defeat Apollo Creed in 1979’s Rocky II. After the sequel, the inspirational feel was at an all-time high, and the franchise would take a more emotional route in the next two films. Rocky III had Rocky fight in dedication to his recently-deceased trainer, Mickey, and Rocky IV saw him avenge the death of his former adversary-turned-friend and trainer, Apollo Creed. With popularity for the franchise waning a bit after Rocky IV, another five years went by before John G. Avildsen, the director of the first film (and The Karate Kid) decided to return to the franchise, this time, focusing on Balboa’s post-career life.
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Rocky V is universally known as the weakest film in the franchise, which is unfortunate, because based on its core story, it could have been one of the best. Here’s why Rocky V failed to capture the hearts of the franchise’s fans after such a successful run of films:
Lack of Memorable Performances
When you get this many sequels into a franchise, it’s not unusual for some of the main characters to start dropping off. While both Sylvester Stallone and Talia Shire shined throughout the series, the inclusions of both Burgess Meredith and Carl Weathers really helped keep it going. Mickey’s (Meredith) crotchety attitude and semi-fatherly overlooking of Rocky were both hilarious and endearing. Having him die in Rocky III was important in Rocky’s growth to becoming the best he could be, and gave him the motivation needed to beat the much stronger Clubber Lang. Conversely, the developed relationship between Rocky and Apollo after Mickey’s death was an emotional turning point in the series, as he now had a new trainer to help him get over the hump, and the incredible amount of charisma that Weathers had been dishing against Rocky, was now coming from his side. Having the two team up in the third film made it so much more shocking and effective when Ivan Drago kills Creed in the beginning of Rocky IV.
These performances/characters were sorely missed in Rocky V. While the film doesn’t really have an established villain (more on that later), the only character that seemed to be holding the emotional part of the story together, was Adrian. Unfortunately, her screen time was severely limited in a film where much of the story needed to be focused on Rocky’s family. It’s clear the franchise’s focus was shifting to that part of Rocky’s life, with him retiring from boxing, and if that was the route the series was taking, more time should have been spent on their relationship, or on Paulie’s issues consistently bleeding into their lives.
No Established Villain
MGM/UA Communications Company
Let’s be honest, the character of Tommy Gunn was a bit of a stiff board anyway, but regardless, he was never really established as the “villain” of the film until almost the last scene. Even when Tommy turns on Rocky, and joins sides with George W. Duke, he’s only doing so out of his own self-interests, not because he feels any ill will towards Rocky. In fact, Tommy even asks that Rocky stay on and train him. It isn’t until Tommy is fighting in the main event, and the crowd turns on him that he feels anger for Rocky. This has nothing to do with something Rocky did; this was just the result of Tommy’s fragile ego and amateur thinking. In a series that had already produced three incredible villains: one that attacked Rocky’s talent in Apollo Creed; one that attacked his pride in Clubber Lang; and one that attacked his newly-found family in Ivan Drago, following them up with a villain that really had no substantial emotion or motive, proved to be a mistake.
Rushing the Important Messages
MGM/UA Communications Company
Rocky V felt like it wanted a lot of the messaging to focus on the relationship between Rocky and his son, Rocky Jr. (played by Stallone’s real-life son, Sage). While the film focused many scenes on Rocky Jr.’s issues at school, his jealousy for the amount of time his dad was spending with Tommy Gunn, and his spiraling transition from sweet kid into punk teenager, the film never really embraces the needed moments for Rocky and Rocky Jr. to come together again. Sometimes those moments never come in real life, and if that was how the story played out, that would be one thing, but the movie has an almost throw-away scene of Rocky and his son making up, putting almost no time and effort into fixing a situation that has been unraveling for an entire movie. In fact, in a scene after the two make-up, Rocky seems to still be concerned more with Tommy Gunn’s fight results than with the father-son relationship he promised to be more involved in. The entire side-story felt rushed and eventually pointless, making the viewer wonder why it was ever part of the story at all.
Missing the Feeling of Accomplishment
Imagine a Rocky V where Tommy Gunn becomes the champion, and Rocky comes out of retirement to put on a classic show of “old teacher beats young student” by using techniques that Tommy refused to learn (like patience) to win the world title. But, instead of the regal score and inspirational hits like “Hearts on Fire” or “Eye of the Tiger”, the soundtrack brought on decent, but ill-fitting popular songs from the time by MC Hammer and Rob Base. Instead of a triumphant in-ring brawl between teacher and student, Rocky V finishes up with an awkward, crowded, and seemingly un-choreographed street fight between Gunn and Rocky, with no real emotion or repercussions attached to it. The film still delivers a moral and physical victory for Rocky Balboa, but in a fight with hardly any stakes, it’s hard to care about the outcome. After the solid drop-off in Rocky V, it took 16 years for the Rocky franchise to up the stakes again in Rocky Balboa (2006), and 25 years to get a new generation re-interested in the series, with Creed.
