333. Rocky 2; movie review

 

ROCKY 2

Cert 12A

120m

BBFC advice: Contains scenes of moderate boxing violence, resulting in heavy bruising and brief bloody detail.

"Adrian, Adrian..."

We all knew that when Rocky's famous cries for his beloved drowned out the announcement of the result of his fight with Apollo Creed, there was bound to be a rematch.

And so it proved to be...

Watching each of the films within a weekend meant that I was completely in sync with its characters. That might have been trickier back in 1979 after a three-year hiatus.

Fortunately, the franchise's new director, Sylvester Stallone, realised the potential problem and reprised the end of the first fight.

Thus, Rocky 2 begins in its immediate aftermath with beaten-up Rocky (Stallone) expecting nothing more from a boxing career which had given him one brief moment in the spotlight.

However, the world champion, Apollo Creed (Carl Weathers) is now fixed on a re-match despite vowing in the ring that there wouldn't be one.

This means the return of Rocky's ring guru, Mickey (Burgess Meredith) to get our hero in even better shape than when he ran up the famous steps.

Meanwhile, in common with the original film, Rocky 2 is less about pugilism and more to do with Rocky's romance with Adrian (Talia Shire) and relationships with those around him.

A constant source of comedy and frustration is his best friend Paulie (Burt Young) who seems to be jealous of Rocky in every movie until the walk to the ring when he admits his admiration.

I hadn't realised it on first watch but Paulie has almost all of the films' best lines and no.2 is no exception.

Anyway, despite initial reticence, Rocky gets it on with a much better-prepared Creed and this time the fight scenes are even better.

The transformation from backstreet punching bag to no.1 challenger is far-fetched even by comparison to the story of real-life slugger Chuck Wepner upon which Rocky is apparently based and Rocky 2 could never be as fresh as the original.

But it is still worth watching because it proves that Stallone can both act and direct. 

Anyone who confines themselves to his later films might have doubted both.

Reasons to watch: Genuine sequel to Oscar winner

Reasons to avoid: A tad cliched

Laughs: None

Jumps: None

Vomit: None

Nudity: None

Overall rating: 8.5/10

Did you know? Talia Shire is the sister of director and producer Francis Ford Coppola and academic August Coppola, the aunt of actor Nicolas Cage and director Sofia Coppola, and the niece of composer and conductor Anton Coppola.

The final word. Muhammad Ali: "That's me, all right. Apollo sounds like me. Insulting the opponent in the press, to get him psyched out. That's me exactly." RogerEbert.com

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