In some ways, it's comforting that nostalgia-bait/excessive fan service isn't a new phenomenon, as the Rocky series is probably a more egregious offender than even the worst modern examples. However, I'm probably not the best judge, because I watched the first five films in the series over the course of a month, whereas they were released over the course of two and half decades. The passage of time is the key ingredient for nostalgia. Without it, it just feels like an unearned rehash of what we've seen before. In any case, this film was definitely my least favorite of the bunch so far, and a lot of that is due to the overall premise/inciting incident (Rocky losing everything and having to move back to where he started), which feels so manufactured/rushed that it really took me out of things. Add on to that a strange arc for Tommy Gunn and an oddly edited street-fight finale and you're left wondering if the Rocky series should have ended at 3, or even 1.