Sylvester Stallone’s performance as Rocky Balboa across seven movies/forty years is one of my favourite things in movies. His emotional breakdowns in this one absolutely floor me. Also Stallone’s best script since the original Rocky. The ache, the pain, the desire to prove himself is all present and accounted for. He gives an honest-to-god performance here. It’s hammy and contrived in ways the series has always been, but by being anchored to a genuinely heartfelt story all the silliness feels more like a comfort than a hindrance. An almost-perfect bookend to Stallone’s Rocky legacy that is somehow even more impacting in light of Coogler’s Creed.