Sly manages to wring a few last drops of milk from the teat that fed him at the start of his career, and you have to wonder what the point of it all is. His script is perfectly serviceable, but really just recycles the themes and events of the previous five films, complete with flashbacks: now it's his wife that has been killed off, for weepy bereavement value, and his son's a bit estranged, so that we can have manly hugs in reconciliation scenes. And then there's a mouthy young punk of a champion for whom Rocky must inevitably haul his leathery hide back in the ring for the finale.
It's by no means offensive and Stallone still plays the same lovable doofus slurring largely unintentionally funny playschool life philosophy slogans (sample: 'It's your right to listen to your gut, it ain't nobody's right to say no after you earned the right to be where you want to be and do what you want to do!'). It's just that everything to be said about the character was already said in the first film, and by now one just has to be relieved that we're only getting a retread of that instalment rather than an objectionable stinker like
Rocky 4 or
5.
4/10
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