Sylvester Stallone really doesn’t like Rocky V… really doesn’t like it. He’s been very vocal about his distain toward the film too. In a 2008, Sly appeared on Friday Night with Johnathan Ross and he was asked to rank the films in the franchise out of 10. According to Sly, Rocky – 10/10. Rocky II – 7.5/10. Rocky III – 9/0. Rocky IV – 7.5/10. Rocky V – 0/10. Really Sly, 0/10? I’m not saying that Rocky V is a masterpiece of cinema, it has numerous problems… but 0/10?

Nope, I’m not having it. I’m working the corner of Rocky V and will defend it until the final bell. I enjoy all of the films in the franchise. But of the main five, Rocky IV is the worst. Yeah I know I’m going to get a lot of punches thrown my way for saying that… but at least I didn’t give it a 0/10. Rocky IV is a fun flick to watch, but it is a really stupid film. Some may say that Rocky V is bad, but it never had a talking robot in it that Paulie decides to give a female voice to make it sexy.

Rocky IV is so stupidly over the top that it damaged the main character and the franchise lost all semblance of realism. As much as I love Dolph Lundgren, his character became a videogame villain. Not to worry though, because Rocky will go to Russia and end the Cold War.

Rocky Balboa: “During this fight, I’ve seen a lot of changing, in the way you feel about me, and in the way I feel about you. In here, there were two guys killing each other, but I guess that’s better than twenty million. I guess what I’m trying to say, is that if I can change, and you can change, everybody can change!”

Rocky IV was so ridiculous that it felt like I was watching a parody of a Rocky film and not a Rocky film. Yeah okay, Apollo Creed’s entrance with James Brown belting out Living in America was awesome. Stupid (especially sees as it was just an exhibition fight), but awesome. This is what the whole film was like, stupid but awesome. Here’s the thing about Rocky films, I don’t want them to be stupid, I want them to be grounded. The Rocky character is at his best when he had both of his feet firmly on the ground.

In terms of the universe in which the films take place, Rocky was on top of the world and there was nowhere else to take him. Rocky IV had Rocky not just win a boxing match, it had him trying to bring peace between America and Russia. Have you ever seen Superman IV: The Quest for Peace? Bloody awful film. Mainly because the plot revolved around Superman ending nuclear war. Here’s the thing about having a massively popular character, you need to keep them within their own world. You don’t have Superman trying to end nuclear war because… he can very easily. You need to keep the character within the constraints of his own universe. I feel the same way about Rocky IV. Pushing the Rocky character into a world peace agenda just did not work for me. It felt out of place and all of the ridiculousness surrounding that made the film even more parody-like. Seriously though, a talking robot?

When you have taken the Rocky Balboa to the very top and had him try to end the Cold War, what else can he do? Enter Rocky V. Here, I will both defend and point out how Rocky V was bad… just not a 0/10 bad.

You can’t top Rocky IV in terms of where the Rocky character is, you have to take him backwards, not forwards. I applaud Rocky V for doing exactly this, he lost it all. Well, he lost the money. Rocky still had a lot of respect and adulation, he just no longer had his fortune. Striping Rocky of his wealth was a genius idea and taking him back to his old neighbourhood, where it all began, was even better. I love Rocky V for doing this and the set up was amazing. I may have an issue or two with how Paulie signed power of attorney away and how Rocky’s taxes were not paid for six years, but he never noticed. Even if we believe that Rocky never kept an eye on his finances, surely Adrian wasn’t so lax? She always came across a smart lady in the films, so why wasn’t she aware of any wrongdoing? So yeah, I like the fact Rocky lost it all, I’m just not a fan of how it was lost.

Rocky Balboa retiring from boxing (eventually, I’m sure he’s been saying he’s retiring since Rocky II) made sense and him reopening Mighty Mick’s Gym was a brilliant full circle thing. Tommy Gunn was a great addition and while I (kind of) get it, the whole subplot with Rocky’s son was tedious. The betrayal by Tommy when Rocky was trying to do his best was a nasty twist of the knife. But it all leads to one of the best finales of any Rocky flick, There’s not ring this time and Rocky is back where he started, on the streets. This street fight is great and I adore how it begins. Tommy starts badmouthing Rocky, but he is ignored. The Paulie steps in to stand up for his brother-in-law, and ends up getting a punch in his chops for it.

Even though it is Paulie’s fault that Rocky lost everything, even though Paulie is a little shit most of the time – Rocky doesn’t let anyone fuck with him. That to me is Rocky’s character to a T. He will stand up for the little guy and he will defend his loved ones.

Rocky Balboa: Hey! You knock him down how ’bout tryin’ knockin’ me down?
George W. Duke: No, no. In the ring. In the ring. Tommy only fights in the ring.
Rocky Balboa: My ring’s outside.

Come on, that is awesome. That exchange alone is better than anything in Rocky IV. Yes, even more so than James Brown belting out Living in America. That final brawl was so damn refreshing too. It’s the fifth flick in the franchise and seeing Rocky get in the ring and win… again, was tiresome. I just adore that we saw Rocky back where it all started and the fact that he doesn’t get his fortune back at the end of a typical Hollywood happy ending showed a lot of balls. Some say that Rocky V has a downer ending (not as much as the original ending where Rocky was supposed to die) because Rocky isn’t back on top. I disagree. The fact that Rocky isn’t back on top makes it more grounded, and that’s how I like my Rocky films to be.

I often wonder how serious Sly was about that 0/10 rating. It’s a very personal film to him, what with Rocky’s son being played by Sly’s real son, Sage. Sadly, Sage passed away 2012 and I wonder if this has made Sly revaluate the film in some way. Rocky V is a slice of family history for him and I’m sure it is crammed with plenty of family memories, so it seems harsh  for Sly to dismiss the film so much now.

Rocky V is a good flick. It’s not perfect, it has issues, but I’d rather re-watch this than Rocky IV. For me, Rocky IV, and all of its bombastic, overblown stupidity exists in its own little fun bubble. Rocky V is Rocky Balboa’s homecoming and it just feels right.