You young-ins today don’t know how huge Sylvester Stallone used to be. I mean back in the day he was Rocky and Rambo. No matter what you think of him as an actor you have to admire the guts he had to have to get Rocky made. He was a nobody, who wrote this script in 3 days and somehow got it produced. You can now revisit the Stallone classics on Blu-ray, the Rambo Blu-ray set came out earlier this year and now we have Rocky: The Undisputed Collection. There isn’t that much left to say about a film series that’s been analyzed and reviewed to death. I still hate Paulie (Burt Young) and can’t look at Burgess Meredith without thinking about the Penguin. But yes, this series has survived all these years for a reason: the minute I saw the big bold Rocky letters scrolling across the screen with the iconic theme song I was hooked all over again.
This is a 1080p transfer at an aspect ratio of 1.85:1 so it’s a full screen picture. As expected the quality of the transfer improves as the series progresses. The original Rocky has some grain in certain parts, particularly the beginning. Normally that’s a distraction but here the grain actually adds to the gritty atmosphere of the neighborhood fights. No gloss here, just raw, down and dirty fighting. The Hi-Def is really gorgeous on all of the close-up shots, while the wide angle ones look a bit washed out. At other points I felt like I was watching a Standard Def picture. Reference material this Blu-ray is not.
The fight choreography in all the Rocky movies still packs an emotional wallop. The moment at the end of Rocky when Apollo (Carl Weathers) – You can’t help but stand up, cheer and shout at the television. Even if you don’t like the Rocky films you have to be pretty soulless not to get caught up in the fight sequences especially the big final fights. I even love Rocky, Jr.’s fight with the bully in Rocky V. Really, Rocky is about so much more than the fights it’s about a man who is always trying to rise above his lot in life and the love of his life. Even when he finally gets it all in he’s not allowed to be happy and content. The irony is he becomes happy at the end of the road when everything is stripped away from him and he’s forced to start over. But he has the one thing he’s always wanted – his family.
The Blu-ray set includes all six Rocky films and a disk with extra features. All six movies are 1080p, with 1.85:1 widescreen presentations, English 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio, English Dolby Surround, audio in Spanish and French. Subtitles are in French and Spanish. Rocky Balboa actually has some extras.
Features
Rocky Balboa Extras (The only disc outside the Bonus Disk to contain Extras)
- Commentary by Sylvester Stallone
- Deleted Scenes
- Boxing’s Bloopers (1 Min) (HD)
- Skilll vs. Will: The Making of Rocky Balboa (17 Min) (HD)
- Reality in the Ring: Filming Rocky’s Final Fight (15 Min) (HD)
- Virtual Champion: Creating the Computer Fight (5 Min) (HD)
- Previews
Bonus Disk
- Feeling Strong Game
- 3 Rounds with trainer Lou Duva (3 Min) (SD)
- Interview with a Legend: Bert Sugar (6 min) (SD)
- The Fighters – Great look at all of Rocky’s Opponents (16 Min) (SD)
- Making of Documentary in 3 Parts (Total time 1:15 Min) (SD)
- Steadicam: Then and Now with Garrett Brown Cinematographer (17 Min) (SD)
- Makeup! The Art and Form with Michael Westmore (15 Min) (SD)
- Staccato: A Composer’s Notebook with Bill Conti (11 Min) (SD)
- Ring of Truth (9 Min) (SD)
- Tribute to Burgess Meredith (8 Min) (SD)
- Tribute to Cinematographer James Crabe (4 Min) (SD)
- Video Commentary with Sylvester Stallone (29 Min) (SD)
- Rocky Trailers and TV Spots
Comments
Rocky is still one of those good (not great) series that continue to stand the test of time. It would have been nice if all the featurettes were in HD and that there was a consistency in the transfer. We are talking about six different films that were made years apart and the original Rocky was a low budget "indie," that’s over 30 years old. So I was ok with the picture quality. This Blu-ray set isn’t the best set in the world, if you already own the DVD collection that came out a few years ago, there’s no compelling reason to upgrade. If you don’t own Rocky then Rocky: The Undisputed Collection is the one to get, otherwise all you’ll feel is "Pain."
Grades
- Movies – A
- Video Quality (Overall B-. It’s a bit all over the map)
- Audio – B
- Menu/Navigation – A
- Features – A
Final Overall Grade – B
EM Review by
Michelle Alexandria
Originally posted 11.15.2009