I really wanted to love this movie, but Tessa Thompson remains nails-on-a-chalkboard to me, and Michael B. Jordan continues to gravitate toward roles in which he has a huge chip on his shoulder but eventually comes around. One note.
This being said, I came around too (!), and wound up sobbing on three occasions. Gosh darnit and hell's bells, that ol' Rocky keeps pulling me back in!
The entire movie is one long déjà vu, but it's fun as heck to see Dolph Lundgren, Brigitte Nielsen, and Sylvester Stallone occupy the same scene together just like the olden days. Brigitte looks fantastic, by the way, but the boys are—like the rest of us mortals—aging out. It's insane to recall how ripped and chiseled Sly was in his 1985 baby-oiled days of Rocky IV, then see him now with saggy cheeks, belly paunch, hair implants, and swollen knuckles, but such are the ravages of time and a life hard-lived near the gym.
If you're a Rocky fan, I think you'll get a kick out of one more visit to the well. If you're not, I predict it's a bridge too far and suggest you don't bother.
But man, such sobbing!
