Although Rocky V is the least entertaining in the series, I’ll say this, it tried. There’s some okay character moment ideas here but it all amounts to a kind of depressing and lifeless film. Stallone’s acting is still good but Shire as Adrian, is unfortunately relegated to nagging and yell-acting. Burt Young is brilliant again though.
The story with Rocky’s estrangement from his son just doesn’t work. It’s not that the kid is a bad actor (he’s also Stallone’s son in real life) but it lacks a spark. It all feels so obvious and their final reconciliation seems totally rushed and unearned. Tommy Gun isn’t a good actor (barely passable here) and brings down every scene he’s in. But the truth is that Stallone’s script let everyone down. I liked the idea of Rocky losing everything but it felt more like a plot contrivance than a reality and things never really pick up after that. At least they tried.