Over the last 15 years, Sylvester Stallone has starred with Talia Shire and Burt Young in a group of films spanning the career of a professional boxer, Rocky Balboa. In the first of the series, "Rocky," which was awarded an Oscar for Best Picture in 1976, Rocky starts off as a street-brawler who fights surprisingly well in a small-time Philadelphia boxing arena. Rocky gets a shot at the World Boxing Championship when his name is picked out of a long list of boxers, and he vies for the title in the fight of his life, earning a stunning draw with the reigning champion. In the next three pictures, Rocky wins the title and defends it repeatedly against many worthy opponents, while earning a fortune.

In the latest installment of the "Rocky" saga, "Rocky V," Rocky does not fight in the ring at all, having quit because of brain damage. Unlike the other movies, "Rocky V" is more about relationships than about boxing; the primary conflicts throughout the movie lie in Rocky's relationships with his son, his wife, and his boxing protege, not in his struggle to win fights. Furthermore, "Rocky V" does not attempt to glamorize boxing as the earlier "Rocky" films did at times, but instead shows some of the faults in professional fighting. At one point in the film, Rocky even responds to a question about the possibility of boxing's being banned; given that the response is a witty one-liner, it nevertheless shows that even in Rocky's world, boxing is not universally popular. All in all, "Rocky V: The Final Bell" is a lot like the other films in this series, with notable exceptions, yet it somehow manages to be as interesting, exciting and worth seeing, especially if you enjoyed the first four "Rocky" movies.n