Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger can now look back and laugh at their heated rivalry when they once tried to outdo each other in terms of box office clout. Give Arnold the edge when it comes to Netflix docu-memoirs, with his eponymous three-parter easily besting “Sly,” an overly Stallone-centric rumination on his “Rocky” rise.
In short, the documentary is too much about Stallone talking about his life and career, with a few notable revelations thrown in – from accidental casting developments on “Rocky” to Dolph Lundgren’s hospitalization during the filming of ” Rocky IV” – but also a lot of self-serving and, frankly, tired insights.
Stallone talks about living with his abusive father, how he began writing frustrated by the violent roles he was constantly being offered, and turning down a then-large sum of money to produce “Rocky.” Because while the studio liked him when they wrote the script, they strongly opposed the idea of him starring in it.
Old clips and recent interviews remind us that “Rocky” changed Stallone’s life overnight, giving his brother Frank the unenviable status of being little more than “Rocky’s brother.”
However, it’s easy to forget that Stallone’s efforts to build on early success led to failures like “FIST” and “Paradise Alley” before finding a home in the franchise with the proliferation of alternate “Rocky” and “Rambo” films. Business found continuation and profits.
Despite interviews with Schwarzenegger along with “Rocky” co-star Talia Shire, filmmaker and unabashed admirer Quentin Tarantino and Henry Winkler (who co-starred with Stallone in “The Lords of Flatbush”), director Thomas Zimny (” Springsteen on Broadway) “) seems content to leave this basically “The World According to Sly.”
The intent is clearly to humanize the subject matter and present an older and wiser Stallone blessed with perspective on his drive to achieve theatrical victories. This includes his later realization of the importance of family (the documentary touches briefly on the tragic death of his son Sage in 2012) and the unresolved issues – particularly his father – that found their way into his work. There’s even a short section about his ill-advised forays into lighter cuisine, like “Stop! “Or my mother will shoot,” which Schwarzenegger essentially tricked him into doing.
Still, Sly’s consistent emphasis on Stallone’s perspective prevents it from doing as much as it should in contextualizing how his filmography fit into the 1970s, ’80s and ’90s, particularly in the way that Rambo did and Rocky became foot soldiers in the Cold War. Simply put, Zimny sat back and allowed it to feel too much like a licensed product.
Like “Arnold,” “Val,” “STILL: A Michael J. Fox Movie,” and many other nostalgic documentaries released in recent years, “Sly” holds value as a pop culture album that tells the story of an influential talent Story to those who have been weaned from their work. Compared to the best of this prolific genre, however, it’s more of a lightweight than a true contender.
“Sly” premieres on Netflix on November 3rd.