by Philo Gabriel

Created on: September 09, 2009   Last Updated: January 10, 2010

Though this is the sixth film in the "Rocky" series, it only has the feel of a sequel in a qualified way. It heavily references the characters' past - indeed, more than any other movie in the series - but those references and clips are almost exclusively to the original "Rocky." This movie could have been nearly identical if "Rocky II," "III," "IV," and "V" had never existed.

In a sense, "Rocky Balboa" is more closely tied to "Rocky" than were any of the intervening sequels. At first blush that seems implausible, given that a lot of the main characters from "Rocky" are long since dead - certainly "Rocky II" superficially seems most closely related to "Rocky" - but I think the case can be made.

In "II," "III," and "IV," and to a lesser extent in "V," Rocky (Sylvester Stallone) is a larger-than-life, world celebrity, sometimes portrayed as having attained a status disturbingly akin to that of a super hero. In "Rocky" and "Rocky Balboa," he's closer to a real person. He's obviously better off financially in "Rocky Balboa," and people recognize him on the street and everything, but mostly he's back to being the humble, local Philly boy of "Rocky."

Then of course there's the aforementioned point that "Rocky Balboa" contains multiple flashback-type clips from "Rocky." The other sequels obviously built on the events of "Rocky," but with rare exceptions they didn't do so explicitly with clips from the original movie.

But more importantly, the general feel of this film is closer to that of "Rocky" than were any of the intervening sequels in the series. "Rocky Balboa" has that "back to basics" feel. (And I would say to some extent "V" was already moving back in this direction.) One gets the sense that Stallone tried to put himself back in the frame of mind of when he was making "Rocky." He seems to have been content aiming for a special little film with a positive message, rather than trying for the monster conventional blockbuster.

It's fun that Stallone brought back some of the most obscure characters from "Rocky." Maybe it was by necessity, since multiple of the main characters had already been killed off in sequels, but it tickled me that little Marie of all people would reappear after all these decades. And Spider Rico?! You don't get much more obscure than that.

I applaud the fact that the emphasis for so much of "Rocky Balboa" is on the human issues and not the latest "big fight." I found myself caring about Rocky and his adjustment to life without Adrian (who

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