Rocky Blu-ray

Rocky

 (1976)

Action | Drama | Romance | Sport



Rocky Balboa (Sylvester Stallone) is a Philadelphia club fighter who seems to be going nowhere. But whena stroke of fate puts him in the ring with a world heavyweight champion, Rocky knows that it's his one shot at the big time - a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to go the distance and come out a winner!

For more details about Rocky on Blu-ray, see the Rocky Blu-ray Review

Starring: Sylvester Stallone, Talia Shire, Burt Young, Carl Weathers, Burgess Meredith
Director: John G. Avildsen

Rocky Blu-ray, Video Quality

 


Fox’s Blu-ray division winds ups, swings, and misses—by just a hair—with this lackluster 1080p, MPEG-2 transfer. Don’t get me wrong, Rocky looks better than ever, but this is one film that calls out for restoration, and a cleaner, more vivid print would go a long way in getting Rocky back in fighting form. Dull is a good way to describe the transfer, as colors seem weak (except for reds), textures are frequently soft, and black levels sometimes obscure detail. This is a hard film to judge, however, as a lot of these traits do seem to stem from the source material. That said, as it was filmed on location in Philly’s sagging south side, Rocky has a wonderful late 1970’s grit to it, and the grain on display in this transfer is characteristic of its time and serves to heighten the film’s sordid, seedy look. Director John Avildsen also uses some pleasingly shallow depth of field in many scenes, giving the picture a dreamy, look-back-in-time sense of depth.

Rocky Blu-ray, Audio Quality

 


Rocky steps into the HD home theater ring wearing a newly minted DTS HD Master Audio 5.1 track that, like its video quality, lacks polish and shine. While sounding obviously fuller than the original mono track (which is also included), the 5.1 mix lacks bottom end density and comes off hollow and thin. It does give the film some added directionality—particularly with trains passing on the tracks overhead and street kids singing around barrel fires—but if it’s a choice between immersion and fidelity here, I’d rather have a more balanced, crisper sound. Voices are strong in the mix, but do sound occasionally lost and muffled; just listen to the scene with Rocky and Paulie in the meat packing plant. Foley sound effects and looped-in dialogue also have an obvious artificial quality at times, particularly punches, which should be meat-bruising and bone-cracking, but sound more brittle than a bundle of cracked sticks. The only time the audio track really gets to boom is during the “Gonna Fly” theme, but even here it seems weaker than it could be.

Rocky Blu-ray, News and Updates

• Rocky Collection Coming to Blu-ray (Update) - August 25, 2009

Rocky Blu-ray, Forum Discussions

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