A “Rocky” this indie film isn’t

A film with movement-sparking rather than moviemaking on its mind, “Revoloution” is a hopelessly muddled example of inspirational indie cinema. Its ability to move you rests almost solely on whether you find director/co-writer/star Bret Carr’s shrilly pitched lead performance -- as the “Lou” in the title, a stuttering, violent, lost-soul boxer with crippling childhood traumas -- the stuff of “Rocky”-like sensitivity or abrasively tic-laden kitsch. Also, perhaps, on whether your dramatic storytelling needs require heaping amounts of self-help-speak.

Years supposedly went into assembling this micro-budgeted feature shot in New York (occasionally handsomely so), but the wan, hackneyed mix of transformation speechifying, loudmouth goombah-thug stereotypes, needlessly restless camerawork and rhythmless humor give it the appearance of an afternoon’s worth of thought. Burt Young, in a funny cameo as himself enduring Lou’s repeated gushing over his love of the Stallone flick, sums it up best when he walks off muttering, “That movie [messed] up more people ....”

-- Robert Abele

“Revoloution” Unrated. Running time: 1 hour, 14 minutes. Exclusively at the Sunset 5, 8000 Sunset Blvd., (323) 848-3500.