Stallone's tribute to himself, the franchise and the fans is an adequate and surprisingly appropriate finale to the franchise. I had to re-watch Raging Bull right after to remind myself that there are better boxing movies out there. This is not to say that Rocky Balboa is anywhere near Scorseses' genius, but as far as boxing movies go, it certainly is somewhere up there. It has a sort of melancholy to it mixed with this simplistic motivational speaker-type writing that while not the deepest thing in the world, I found it worked in this context. If only we'll be so lucky with Stallone's next self-congratulating project - John Rambo. The trailer has him decapitate a guy with his bare hands within the first few scenes so it's bound to be good