Rocky V - The 80's Remix

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9.2 (11)
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Rocky V - The 80's Remix
Faneditor Name:
Original Movie Title:
Genre:
Fanedit Type:
Original Release Date:
1990
Original Running Time:
104
Fanedit Release Date:
Fanedit Running Time:
82
Time Cut:
22
Brief Synopsis:
After the fight of his life against Russia's seemingly unstoppable Ivan Drago, Rocky Balboa finds himself returning home to America with not only the realisation that he's suffering from brain damage, but also that he's suddenly facing bankruptcy due to illicit dealings from his accountant. Unable to step back into ring, one last opportunity presents itself in the unlikely form of boxer, Tommy Gunn, a fan of Rocky's who asks the Italian Stallion to manage him and teach him everything he knows.

As one victory follows another, it isn't long before Tommy is eyeing up the heavyweight championship of the world. Along the way however, Rocky becomes so obsessed with tasting success again that he doesn't realise that he faces losing the most important aspect of his life - his family.
Intention:
The intention with this “80’s Cut”, is to try and trim some of Stallone’s over the top performance, remove all of the hip-hop music and replace it with 80’s tunes bringing it more in line with Rocky III and IV, address the issue of Rocky Junior aging about 3 years overnight and present a substantially shortened version of the street fight to make it more realistic.
Other Sources:
Added Music...

Fire Makes Steel - Survivor
All Fired Up - Pat Benatar
Nothing's Gonna Stand in Our Way - John Farnham
Eye of The Tiger (orchestral version) - London Symphony Orchestra
Grand Illusion - Eric Clapton
Behind The Mask - Eric Clapton

Sound Effects from The Freesound Project
Special Thanks:
Sophie Payne, Bionic Bob, DwightFry, tylerdurden.
Release Information:
DVD
Special Features
Audio Commentary

Rocky V - Electro Version

Trailers

About the Edit
Cuts and Additions:
- Opening sequence re-scored

- Removed scene where Rocky arrives back in the States to a fanfare and press conference.

- Cut scenes when Rocky and family return to the Balboa mansion, also removing scenes with Rocky and his son, plus when Adrian confronts Paulie and tells Rocky about the fact that all their money has suddenly gone. We now go straight from Adrian comforting Rocky in Russia after the fight with Drago to the office meeting with Rocky and his lawyers about the fact that they have suddenly become bankrupt.

- Removed all scenes with Robert (Rocky jnr) when the house is being sold

- After Rocky visits the old gym and remembers his time with Mickey, have trimmed the following scene to remove the shots of Rocky and family moving back to the old neighborhood. Instead, have added “1 year later” caption and we cut to Adrian talking to Duke on the phone.

- Cut Rocky walking his son to school

- Duke talking to Union Cane in his limo, cut.

- Cut Jewel's line to Rocky Jnr, "You know, for an Italian kid you ain't got a bad butt"

- Tommy’s first training sequence re-scored, and trimmed slightly, sound effects rebuilt

- Training sequence 2, re-scored and trimmed slightly, sound effects rebuilt

- Slightly trimmed Duke’s talk at the Christmas party with Tommy, changed background song

- Trimmed scene where Paulie impersonates Santa Clause due to obvious overacting on Stallone’s part

- Re-scored and heavily re-edited street fight to improve continuity and also to shorten the fight in an effort to make it slightly more realistic.

- New End credits with Rocky artwork added, re-scored.
Cover art by LastSurvivor (DOWNLOAD HERE) image

Trailer


Faneditor Diary

User reviews

11 reviews
 
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Overall rating
 
9.2
Audio/Video Quality
 
9.4(11)
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9.8(11)
Visual Editing
 
9.8(11)
Narrative
 
8.6(11)
Enjoyment
 
8.6(11)
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Overall rating
 
9.4
Audio/Video Quality
 
10.0
Audio Editing
 
10.0
Visual Editing
 
10.0
Narrative
 
8.0
Enjoyment
 
9.0
Having never seen the original film all the way through but hearing horror stories, I thought it’d be better for my sanity to watch a fanedit of this one that had the intention of making it better. They’ve replaced a hip hop score with one that reflects the original films. And the fact that this film originally had a hip hop score shows how misguided some of the decisions were.
Yet honestly, it’s not entirely misguided, with the third and fourth film they had turned into fun but formulaic films that resembled music videos and lost quite a bit of the character drama that made the original film such a masterpiece. Rocky V tries to return to that, there’s a lot of interesting ideas in here, the brain damage, the corruption of the boxing leagues, the mentorship, and of course Rocky having to balance his familial duties and return to his masculinity and purpose. Yet it’s just not well written, feeling forced rather than a natural progression of the story. I know the final fight is often criticized because people wanted a boxing match in an arena,, yet I enjoyed the street fight as something different, a small personal victory rather than one that’s in front of the whole world. Thankfully all the missteps would be corrected in the next film, yet this film almost feels necessary as at least an explanation of why Rocky lost all his money.

As for the fanedit itself, Excellent Audio and Video Editing throughout. A lot of excellent choices here, the film certainly improves in it's shorter runtime and the more nostalgic score. There's one narrative hiccup that bothers me, as Rocky's son as an artist comes out of left field and we don't get the build up to that before the end.

User Review

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Digital
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Overall rating
 
9.2
Audio/Video Quality
 
9.0
Audio Editing
 
10.0
Visual Editing
 
10.0
Narrative
 
9.0
Enjoyment
 
8.0
As a Rocky fan, Rocky V is definitely at the bottom for me. I liked this edit, I liked the changes to the music. There are a couple continuity issues and the quality isn't very good, but even with that I really enjoyed this edit.

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Yes
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Digital
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(Updated: July 15, 2020)
Overall rating
 
8.6
Audio/Video Quality
 
8.0
Audio Editing
 
9.0
Visual Editing
 
9.0
Narrative
 
9.0
Enjoyment
 
8.0
Much credit to LastSurvivor for rescuing this film and giving us a version I'm happy to watch with the rest of the series. John G. Avildsen (director of this film and the original Rocky) actually released a workprint "director's cut" online that addresses most of the same issues that LS identified here. It keeps getting taken down, so I can't watch to confirm if it's better or not, but you can see the director reworked the end fight, the training montages, the music, etc. Stallone also famously changed both the ending and his portrayal of the brain damage while filming. All of these are addressed and improved by this fanedit.

Basically, Rocky fans fall into two camps: those that really love III and IV but don't care much about the others, and those that really appreciate the more drama-oriented films in the series. Rocky III and IV are about 60% montage, and while they're great fun, it's hard to say that they're genuinely moving. Rocky V tried to come back to the original's Oscar-winning roots, but lapsed into a studio cash-in of a mess. What this edit does great is strip away a lot of the trendy ideas afflicted on Rocky V and allow the drama at its core to shine. It's one of the most realistic and depressing films in the series, incorporating tons of real-world issues that boxers eventually face in their career. Made in 1990, it actually brilliantly satirizes Don King and his Tyson-beating stooge, Buster Douglas. Stallone's script calls out the twisted business behind modern boxing, the politics of getting big fights, the engineering of fight records, the health-destroying injuries, the broken families. Almost everything that happens in the film ended up happening to Mike Tyson a few years later. The drama in this film is the great strong point, and the scenes between Adrian and Rocky have a chance to rise above and really reach the audience now.

It's not a perfect edit (for me), though. There are a couple of continuity issues created by the removal of scenes, for one. While the "one year later" on-screen title attempts to smooth over the change in actors for Rocky Jr., it's actually a 5 year age difference from Rocky IV! This could've been fixed with a couple more time tags, like skipping ahead 2 years when Rocky decides to open his gym, and another year or so when he starts training Tommy. Sage Stallone does actually look older by the final third of the film, when he's fully rebelling and wearing an earring. Cutting out the scene when he starts doing that makes it a little less obvious what he's doing though, and means Rocky's joke about the earring at the end of the film largely misses. Rocky Jr.'s dig at Rocky about "watching out for scams" also misses because the scene where Rocky walked him to school is removed, so he never says that. We also miss the line he references several times later about him and his son promising to remain tight. Also, this edit of the final fight ends up making it largely one-sided...Rocky hits Tommy roughly 200 times and never seems in real danger. It's a bit anti-climactic. Partially re-instating these scenes would better support the parallel stories of the 'two sons', and make Rocky Jr. seem like less of a needy whiner.

All that is not nearly as important as what the edit does right, though. The new music choices fit very well, and that alone is reason enough for this to replace the original. Not only the addition of cheesy '80s rock, but also more Conti music, and a saxy Gonna Fly Now reprise if I'm not mistaken. I didn't get why the pencil artwork was used for the film, until I rewatched and remembered his son becomes an artist. It's actually perfect then, in that the theme of this film is legacy and family, and Rocky focusing on his family instead of his boxing/boxers. However, I would've preferred the son's actual art in the film, particularly the lovely picture of Rocky and Adrian. This becomes the core of this movie for me, a return to the first film. The boxing should be almost secondary. Given how Rocky is dealing with what happens with his son and Adrian in the next film, Rocky Balboa, this film actually becomes stronger for how it sets this up. These scenes with Adrian are now really touching in context, and I wish that were the cover/dvd menu, rather than focusing on Rocky as the boxer.

All in all though, this is a much improved film that splits the difference between the two camps of Rocky fans. It's got lots of heart and personal drama, but it's also short and full of action montages and '80s rock. I don't think it's going to wow fans of either Rocky IV or the original, but it has now secured its place in the series.

User Review

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Yes
Format Watched?
Digital
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Overall rating
 
9.4
Audio/Video Quality
 
10.0
Audio Editing
 
10.0
Visual Editing
 
10.0
Narrative
 
9.0
Enjoyment
 
8.0
im a fan of the rocky films and the fifth installment of the series is obviously the black sheep. you did a great job of re-doing it, and you made it better. its still not a great movie. i don't know how anybody could make it good, but you made it from bad, to watchable, fantastic job, and i can't wait to see what you did with rambo!! thanks last survivor!

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Digital
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1 reviews
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Overall rating
 
8.8
Audio/Video Quality
 
9.0
Audio Editing
 
10.0
Visual Editing
 
10.0
Narrative
 
8.0
Enjoyment
 
7.0
Another excellent edit from LastSurvivor. Tech aspects were great. LS's audio editing is superb, I loved the new music added.

I will say though, since you cut Duke's introduction, when Rocky learns he's broke him yelling he'll agree to fight Cain makes no sense.

Rocky V is still a pretty terrible film in my eyes, but this was much more enjoyable.

(I haven't listened to the commentary yet. When I do I'll add to my review.)

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