Rocky: Ultimate Knockout Collection (Rocky I-VI) [4K Ultra HD]

Director(s): John G. Avildsen (Rocky I & V), Sylvester Stallone (Rocky II-IV & VI)

Cast: Sylvester Stallone, Burt Young, Talia Shire

Release Date: July 16, 2024

A Review By: Kevin Lovell

Disc Rating: 8/10

Synopsis:

Go the distance with this Rocky collection, featuring six knockout Rocky films. Sylvester Stallone stars in the greatest boxing saga of all time and triumphs as one of the most inspirational characters in cinematic history. Witness the epic, action-packed fights and unforgettable moments as Rocky strives for greatness through sheer determination against impossible odds.

Please Note: This review contains some re-used segments and content previously published in my review of ‘Rocky: The Knockout Collection’ released in 2023 which can be found HERE!

Get ready to go the distance once again with all six films in the ‘Rocky’ saga. Following the unforgettable events that began with the original classic ‘Rocky’ as Balboa is given the opportunity of a lifetime with the chance to fight a massive match against current champion Apollo Creed where he strives to simply go the distance in the match of his life. Then, rejoin Rocky as he once again takes on Creed in a rematch for the ages. We then revisit the epic bout between Rocky and the hard-hitting Clubber Lang before accompanying Rocky against the human beast of a fighter Drago in a match that will test Rocky’s limits in every possible way while he additionally tries to confront the loss of his friend at the man’s hand. The saga continues with Rocky as he tries to train a new star only for things to go a way he never expected. At last we join Rocky years down the road after suffering the loss of his beloved wife Adrian as he decides to jump into the ring one last time for an unforgettable curtain call.

The ‘Rocky’ films are iconic to say the least and each are true classics that will surely never be forgotten, not to mention being responsible for kick starting the career of action star (and writer/director) Sylvester Stallone who starred in the title role and wrote the first film which was directed by John G. Avildsen. After the first film Stallone also took over directing duties and served as director, writer and star of the subsequent three films and the sixth, with Avildsen returning once more to helm the fifth installment.

The franchise stuttered slightly with the less than stellar received ‘Rocky V’ then returned to one of its highest points with the outstanding ‘Rocky Balboa’ which is one of the better films in the franchise and offers a touching and emotional curtain call for our heroic fighter; at least before returning in the first two ‘Creed’ films. There aren’t many sagas that manage to get your feelings worked up both for good and otherwise more than ‘Rocky’ and it’s impossible not to root for Stallone as he embodies this role with every element at his disposal and the series will undeniably go down in history as one of the great underdog tales.

All six films in the ‘Rocky’ series arrive home courtesy of Warner Bros. Discovery Home Entertainment and MGM in this 7-disc ‘Rocky: Ultimate Knockout Collection’ 4K UHD set which features ‘Rocky I-V’ and ‘Rocky Balboa’ as well as the ‘Rocky vs. Drago Ultimate Director’s Cut’ and the new ‘Rocky Balboa: Director’s Cut’ (which features many previously released deleted scenes reintegrated into the film) all presented in full Ultra High Definition with Dolby Vision and HDR-10; while also utilizing the corrected discs for the films with technical issues in the previous set including the audio issues with pitch and format, as well as the odd aspect ratio shift in the theatrical cut of ‘Rocky IV’ all of which are presented correctly this time around.

At last, we have a full ‘Rocky’ 4K UHD collection that truly goes the distance and fans who didn’t already pick up the previous 4-film ‘Knockout Collection’ set from last year should be far more tempted to purchase this full and corrected release that fixes the minor issues from before and also completes the series. For those that already picked up the previous set, there are also Limited Edition Steelbook releases for ‘Rocky V’ and ‘Rocky Balboa’ which might be a better fit for those fans to complete their collection. If you’re a diehard ‘Rocky’ fan that managed to hold off for this collection and are already considering a purchase then this 6-film set is definitely recommended.

VIDEO:

The 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray release of ‘Rocky: Ultimate Knockout Collection’ features a full 2160p Ultra High Definition presentation with Dolby Vision and HDR-10 on all six films (in addition to the Rocky vs. Drago Ultimate Director’s Cut and the Rocky Balboa Director’s Cut) presented in their original 1.85:1 Aspect Ratio (with the exception of Rocky vs. Drago which is presented in a 2.39:1 Cinemascope Aspect Ratio). The video presentations for the Theatrical cuts of each film look quite great for the most part and deliver clean, sharp and source faithful presentations that see a definite uptick in detail and clarity, while still retaining grain and other welcome artifacts representative of their source material, although some of the grain and background images on a couple films look less stellar than others, but never in a detrimental way by any means. The Director’s Cut of IV is a different situation because it is heavily scrubbed of grain and crafted to look more like a modern presentation, while also featuring a different ratio. It doesn’t look bad by any means, just different than what fans might expect compared to the original cut.

The new additions here (Rocky V and Rocky Balboa) can be slightly more hit or miss, but still serve as definite improvements to their Blu-ray counterparts to say the least, with V looking significantly better and sharper than the sixth film (likely due to both cuts of Rocky Balboa sharing a disc along with extras) but as a whole everything looks quite good throughout, and the brief Aspect Ratio glitch found on the Theatrical cut of IV in the previous release has also been corrected here. Overall, these are very solid and in some cases outstanding Ultra High Definition video presentations that should excite fans that waited to add the whole series to their collection in 4K.

AUDIO:

The 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray release features a 5.1 channel DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack for all six films (and the Director’s Cut of IV and VI). These multichannel soundtracks hold up fairly well although some sound better than others due to their age and use of additional channels; they do each include the original theatrical audio in addition which many may prefer for at least a few of the installments. Each offers clean, crisp and well balanced audio presentations that do their job admirably and keep all of the dialogue, music and other audio elements sounding clean, sharp and fully audible throughout, while a few offer a bit more in the way of immersive surround effects, with the surround elements becoming slightly more noticeable and unique as the series progresses. The truly great news here is that the various issues uncovered on the previous four film collection including the wrong theatrical sound for the first film and pitch issues with some others are all corrected and as they should be in this 6-film collection. Overall, these are capable and quite nice DTS-HD MA soundtracks altogether that each do their job quite well and should largely please the fans.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

The 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray release of ‘Rocky: Ultimate Knockout Collection’ features all of the same extras as last year’s 4 movie set, even with the same bonus disc featured. The one key difference is that there are some additional extras included on the ‘Rocky Balboa’ disc. I’ve included the details from the previous set below, followed by the additional extras on the sixth film’s disc.

The 4K UHD disc of ‘Rocky’ includes 3 Audio Commentary tracks including an ‘Audio Commentary with Avildsen, Winkler & Chartoff, Talia Shire and Burt Young’, along with a second ‘Audio Commentary with Sylvester Stallone’ and a third ‘Audio Commentary with Lou Duva and boxing commentator Bert Sugar’.

The Blu-ray Bonus Disc (which is the exact same disc featured on the four film 4K set last year) includes some of the extras from the previous ‘Rocky’ Blu-ray release, although many features from that such as the multi-part documentary are not included here. Included on the disc are ‘8MM Home Movies of Rocky with Commentary by Director John G. Avildsen and Pre-production Supervisor Lloyd Kaufman’ (running approximately 12 minutes in length), along with ‘3 Rounds with Lou Duva’ (running approximately 4 minutes), ‘Steadicam: Then and Now with Garrett Brown’ (approximately 17 minutes), ‘Make-Up! The Art and Form with Michael Westmore’ (15 minutes), ‘Staccato: A Composer’s Notebook with Bill Conti’ (11 minutes), plus ‘The Ring of Truth’ (9 minutes), ‘A Tribute to Burgess Meredith’ (8 minutes) and ‘Stallone Meets Rocky’ (3 minutes). Also included is ‘The Making of Rocky vs. Drago: Keep Punching’ (58 minutes) which is listed as an Extended Behind the Scenes Documentary yet is somehow curiously 35 minutes shorter than the version available to watch on YouTube. The release also includes ‘Trailers’ for all four films and the new cut of IV (approximately 14 minutes altogether).

The ‘Rocky Balboa’ 4K disc additionally features an ‘Audio Commentary with Sylvester Stallone’, along with one ‘Deleted Scene’ (running approximately 1 minute) and an ‘Alternate Ending’ (approximately 3 minutes) while the others are now included in the Director’s Cut version. Also included on the disc are some Featurettes including ‘Skill vs. Will: The Making of Rocky Balboa’ (approximately 18 minutes), ‘Reality in the Ring: Filming Rocky’s Final Fight’ (15 minutes), ‘Virtual Champion: Creating the Computer Fight’ (5 minutes) and ‘Fight Makeup’ (1 minute).

*Please note that the above images are taken from previously released Blu-Ray discs and resized. They do not represent the quality of the 4K Ultra HD discs themselves and will additionally suffer quality loss as a result of .jpg compression. Larger versions of each image can be viewed by clicking on the image. All images and content included on the 4K UHD & Blu-Ray releases are the property of their respective owners.

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Disc Rating: 8/10

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‘Rocky: Ultimate Knockout Collection’ (6-Film Collection) is Now Available to Own on 4K Ultra HD from MGM & Warner Bros. Discovery Home Entertainment

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You can Purchase the ‘Rocky: Ultimate Knockout Collection’ 4K UHD set on Amazon HERE!

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