Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		3.0
Overall		3.5

Rocky Balboa 4K Blu-ray Movie Review

Side Steps.

Reviewed by Randy Miller III July 18, 2024

Now available as part of the new and improved seven-disc Ultimate Knockout Collection boxed set or as this stand-alone Steelbook edition, Sylvester Stallone's Rocky Balboa finally attempts to carve out a name for itself in 4K territory. In addition to the well-received theatrical version of the film, a new Director's Cut is also included and reviewed below. This two-disc set features most of the same familiar legacy extras and even a recycled Blu-ray copy of the film, which the boxed set omits. But as you'll soon discover, Balboa's belated arrival on 4K proves to be... rocky.

For a synopsis and appreciation of Rocky Balboa's original theatrical cut, please see Ben Williams' 2007 Blu-ray review. I'm in agreement that it's a well-crafted and very mature conclusion to the series -- not counting Creed and its sequels, of course -- that has held up decently well with age. The characters are all thoughtfully played and mostly memorable... with perhaps the only exception being Mason "The Line" Dixon (real-life boxer Antonio Tarver), who in my opinion never quite feels like an insurmountable threat when compared to past "villains". Even so, after the critical and commercial disaster of Rocky V more than 15 years earlier, this was a welcome return to the franchise's former glory.

Rocky Balboa: The Director's Cut (2024, 4K only) - Unlike the 2021 Director's Cut of Rocky IV -- which is better described as a "remix", due to its wide and sweeping tonal changes -- this comparatively much more traditional new cut of Rocky Balboa just makes an already-solid film about 15 minutes longer. You'll notice I don't say "better" because, with maybe two or three exceptions, the re-insertion of about half a dozen deleted or extended scenes -- all originally included on Sony's Blu-ray in rough format, but now newly remastered and color-graded to fit in seamlessly -- is meant to flesh out a handful of story beats... but in most cases, it just interrupts the film's rhythm. Rocky's return to boxing is now more belated than ever, as the first half's renewed focus on its supporting characters bounces around somewhat haphazardly before Rocky's fight finally comes into focus. Speaking of that final fight, it overall flows the same as before but a few very brief editing flourishes seem to have been added... either that, or I'm punch-drunk.

A few exceptions make other aspects of this new cut more effective, such as Paulie's back-alley breakdown and an early scene that establishes Rocky's home life a little better. Two others, including the alternate ending, thankfully remain on the cutting room floor and make it obvious that a decent amount of thought went into this. But while I'm not entirely sold on this Director's Cut for various reasons, I'm glad that both versions were included here... kind of.

Rocky Balboa 4K Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

NOTE: These screenshots are sourced from Sony's 2007 Blu-ray, included with this Steelbook release.

So what's with the "kind of"? Disc compression can make or break any release... but the verdict is still out on whether or not including both cuts of Rocky Balboa on one disc -- even that of the triple-layered, 100GB variety -- is the reason why this 2160p/HDR10 presentation looks so underwhelming. After the promising blue-tinted opening montage, things take a turn for the worse: random but regular checks of the running bit rate reveal that this transfer typically stays in the 30-40 Mbps range and occasionally drops even lower. For the record that's barely any better than Blu-ray numbers, though it's worth noting the picture is now being delivered via more efficient HEVC encoding. (There are occasional spikes into what I would call "respectable" territory, but these are few and far between.)

What's more likely, however, is that this simply isn't a demanding image for one unfortunate reason: large portions of the grain present on Sony's 2007 Blu-ray have been smoothed away via copious amounts of digital noise reduction, to the point where select shots -- mostly those captured at night, such as the overhead view of Rocky leaving Marie and Steps' front sidewalk -- now look like a completely different film. (It's worth noting that both the theatrical version and new Director's Cut are similar if not 100% identical in this respect, which is disappointing.) While grain does reappear on occasion, it's simply not enough to preserve the film's original grittier appearance. Was this done in an attempt to match filmed portions with the climactic fight, which was shot digitally to simulate the look of a then-recent HBO pay-per-view bout? Perhaps. But it was the wrong move, in my opinion. Speaking of that fight, it looks virtually identical on both formats, although some of the on-screen graphics are a bit more jagged at this higher resolution.

This new 2160p transfer isn't a disaster, of course, with fairly solid gains made in the area of mid-range black levels that weren't quite as "readable" on Blu-ray and of course better support for individual hues, especially those adjacent to extremely dark values. Fine detail and textures, at least those which haven't been lost to noise reduction, likewise show modest improvement. But these occasional benefits, which also include a marginally cleaner image and perhaps better overall stability, aren't always necessarily worth the sacrificial trade-off for those borderline deal-breaking issues covered above. At best, it certainly has bright spots but this one's extremely uneven on the whole.

Rocky Balboa 4K Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The default DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio mix sounds virtually identical to the similarly lossless LPCM 5.1 track found on Sony's 2007 Blu-ray, which unsurprisingly is still a largely subdued affair until the final stretch. It's a solid track, all things considered, although a Dolby Atmos remix would have been interesting to hear. Please note that the Director's Cut is identically mixed in DTS-HD 5.1 MA and the new scenes seem to blend in seamlessly.

Optional subtitles, including English (SDH), are offered during both cuts of the film and the extras below.

Rocky Balboa 4K Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

This two-disc release ships in matte-finish Steelbook packaging with a front-and-center image of our hero striking a pose in-ring with the same black, white and red color scheme seen in the other recent Rocky 4K Steelbooks. The back cover features the more familiar triumphant pose used for poster images and earlier home video releases (albeit again in black and white), while inside we get a full-color still of Rocky and Mason slugging it out during their final fight with both discs on overlapping hubs on the right side. It's a decent enough design in that it matches the other Steelbooks, but it's odd that a few supporting characters weren't featured given the nature of this new Director's Cut.

The 4K on-disc extras largely mirror those found on Sony's 2007 Blu-ray, with a few minor omissions, and are listed below in name only. They're also, of course, presented in full on the included Blu-ray.

• Audio Commentary with writer/director Sylvester Stallone

• Deleted Scenes - Unlike the Blu-ray edition, only the alternate ending and "Paulie's Girlfriend Moves His Things" are included here, since all the others are now part of the Director's Cut.

• Skill vs. Will: The Making of Rocky Balboa (17:47)

• Reality in the Ring: Filming Rocky's Final Fight (15:37)

• Virtual Champion: Creating the Computer Fight (5:08)

• NEW! Fight Makeup (1:33) - This has the look and feel of a DVD/Blu-ray featurette and gives a brief overview of the makeup process used for the final fight, but I've never seen it before. Yay?

Rocky Balboa 4K Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Sylvester Stallone's Rocky Balboa was the long-awaited comeback many fans hoped for after the disappointment of Rocky V in 1990, offering a solid amount of closure for the beloved franchise until its later spin-off resurrection with the Creed series. Warner Bros.' new 4K treatment is available in this Steelbook edition or as part of the Ultimate Knockout Collection boxed set and features a brand-new Director's Cut of the film. Though I'd personally not call it an all-around improvement, it's the most interesting thing about this UHD release: the new 4K transfer is questionable at best, and everything else is recycled from Sony's 2007 Blu-ray. That alone should give pause to all but Rocky Balboa's biggest fans, but the tempting new cut and collectable packaging may at least entice curious newcomers.