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Rocky II

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Rocky II Is the Rare Sequel That Equals the Original. Only The Godfather Part II Belongs in the Same Conversation.@thefed116d

When people talk about perfect sequels, the list is short. Very short. Rocky II sits at the top of that list, and the only other film that honestly belongs in that same breath is The Godfather Part II. That is not exaggeration. That is respect earned.

Released in 1979, Rocky II had the impossible task of following a cultural phenomenon. The original Rocky was not just a hit, it was a moment. It won Best Picture. It turned Sylvester Stallone into a global star. It made audiences believe in underdogs again. Most sequels either retread the same ground or lose what made the first one special. Rocky II does neither.

This time Stallone was not just starring. He directed it as well. That matters. You can feel the control. The tone stays consistent. The heart of the character remains intact. Stallone understood that Rocky was not just about boxing. It was about pride, love, self doubt, and proving something to yourself. By stepping into the director’s chair, he protected that identity.

The cast returning is a huge part of why this film works. Talia Shire as Adrian is once again the emotional backbone of the story. Her performance is quiet but powerful. Carl Weathers as Apollo Creed raises the intensity. Burt Young brings that rough edged loyalty as Paulie. Burgess Meredith as Mickey delivers every line with gravel and authority. Nobody feels like they are just collecting a paycheck. Everyone shows up.

The genius of Rocky II is that it does not rush back into the ring. The first half of the film is almost uncomfortable at times. Rocky struggles with fame. He struggles with money. He struggles with reading contracts and doing commercials. He is not built for celebrity life. That realism grounds the story. The movie understands that winning does not automatically fix everything.

Apollo Creed, on the other hand, cannot handle the doubt. Even though he won in the first film, the split decision eats at him. His ego is bruised. The media questions him. The public questions him. That psychological pressure builds the rematch in a way that feels organic, not manufactured. It is not just about belts. It is about reputation.

Then there is the emotional core. Adrian’s health crisis and her eventual words to Rocky before the final training push remain some of the most powerful moments in the entire franchise. When she tells him to win, the entire tone shifts. The music kicks in. The training montage begins. And it feels earned. Not forced. Earned.

Bill Conti’s score once again carries massive weight. The music does not just accompany scenes. It elevates them. The final fight is longer, more brutal, and more dramatic than the first film. Stallone directs it with grit and tension. The sweat, the blood, the exhaustion. You feel every round.

And that ending. Rocky refusing to stay down. Apollo refusing to quit. Two warriors emptying the tank. When Rocky finally wins and screams for Adrian, it does not feel like a sports victory. It feels like a personal triumph. The underdog did not just go the distance this time. He finished the job.

What makes Rocky II so rare is balance. It honors the original without copying it. It deepens the characters instead of flattening them. It raises the stakes without becoming cartoonish. That is why it stands shoulder to shoulder with The Godfather Part II when discussing sequels that truly match their predecessor.

Rocky II is not just a follow up. It is a continuation that feels necessary. It completes the arc that began in 1976 and proves that sometimes lightning can strike twice. Few sequels pull that off. This one absolutely does.

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›Went back to watch Rocky 2 and 3 and well, I'm bored@netflixr459d
The Rocky films are lauded as being some sort of masterpieces of theater and I suppose if I had been aware of what was going on in life at the time in the late 70's and early 80's I would have agreed. I hadn't seen these films in probably 20 years so when they popped up on our server, I felt obligated to go back and watch them.

I often say that sometimes things are better left in your memory and I believe this to be absolutely true with the Rocky films.

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In Rocky 1, Sly plays "The Italian Stallion" who is a pleasant enough person who isn't very smart but has a knack for boxing. He works his way up without really even trying to get a shot at the World Championship and nobody really expects him to win but because he is a hometown favorite, people are on his side. In the first film he doesn't win, but he becomes the first person to ever last a full fight with Apollo Creed and this is what leads us to Rocky 2.

Rocky 2 is essentially the same film as Rocky 1 but at the start Rocky has determined that he isn't going to box anymore. He retires at the start and take the money that he got from his World Championship fight and does what so many real-life athletes who come into a bunch of money do in real life: He spends it like it isn't ever going to end.
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He buys everything he wants without negotiating or even putting any thought into the fact that he only has the one fight purse. He buys designer clothes, a flash car, a house, and a bunch of watches for him, his wife, and his friends. Next thing you know he has nothing and because he doesn't really have any talents outside of being a boxer, he can't make ends meet and he is emasculated when his pregnant wife Adrian" has to return to work to make ends meet.

Then magically he is requested to fight Apollo Creed again because the plot calls for it. he is out of shape, hasn't trained in a while, and has a lot of work to do in order to get in shape for the fight, which of course he initially resists and is later motivated to put his full heart into training when Adrian wakes up from a coma and the first words out of her mouth are to "go win."

Urgh

The training montage is something that remains pretty infamous in all Rocky films and it is the inspiration for a lot of films that came later and these are always appreciated even though they are kind of making fun of it.
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Rocky is an extreme underdog in this fight and as such, he starts out the fight getting his butt whooped by the clearly superior Apollo Creed. Of course we know that this is going to turn around because the film is called Rocky, not Apollo.

The fighting is where these movies all kind of rub me the wrong way... and I mean ALL of them, not just this particular one. I'm not a huge boxing fan but the hits these guys take over and over in the ring would kill an actual person if it was to happen just a couple times, let alone dozens of times in a row.
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Now I understand that filming a fight, especially in 1982, would have been very difficult. I don't much about boxing but I do know that the referee typically says "listen to my instructions at all times and protect yourself at all times." I can only guess that both of these guys didn't bother to listen to the second thing because neither of them seem to protect their heads at any point in the match.

Even for me, someone that doesn't really follow boxing, this is frustrating to watch as the same person gets hit over and over again clean on the jaw by a full power hook and just shakes it off and carries on. It's annoying to me.

Also, since this film is essentially the same thing as the first one, I don't really understand why people rated it so high. The only real difference between the two is that instead of being a nobody at the start of it all like he was in Rocky 1, "The Italian Stallion" starts out being everything and blowing all of his money to return to being nothing. Other than that, it is exactly the same movie and I guess, this is a great ROI for the people that made the film.

I turned Rocky 3 off about halfway through because I was only really in it to rewatch the completely absurd match between Stallone and Hulk Hogan that was obviously a push to try to get Hulk into acting as well as promote professional wrestling.
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I was tired at that point and I don't actually remember the whole movie but I am willing to bet that Rocky, once again, ends up being the underdog and has a come-from-behind victory in the final fight vs. Clubber Lang.

It might not be popular to say this to anyone that thinks these are epic moments in cinematic history, but to me, this is the Marvel type of cinema that existed in the 80's. They discovered a formula that is going to put butts in the seats at the cinema, and then just reworked the same story multiple times in a row.

Should I watch it?

I am going to say something that gets me in trouble here and say "no." While I can appreciate what these films accomplished at the time, which is to say that they created a repeatable formula that allowed them to tell the same story 5 or 6 times in a row, I don't like how that trend was adopted by the entire market for basically all of the 80's and to some extent exists to this day.

I suppose for the younger folks you can go and see it so you can understand what propelled Sylvester Stallone to stardom and how much films have evolved since that time.

There is no mystery here: We know that Rocky is going to win in the end in the same fashion that he always does. He would end up doing exactly the same thing in Rocky 4 against Ivan Drago in Russia - which by the way is my favorite movie of the entire franchise and would actually watch again. I know it is considered one of the worst but whatever man! I have my reasons.

Go ahead and lash out at me for hating on this famous movie franchise. I just don't think it is very good.

_{there is no one place that has all the Rocky films in one location. They are spread out. Rocky and Rocky 2 are available on Netflix. Basically every streaming service has all of them available for a small fee.}

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›Rocky II (1979) review: Another round.@richardalexis1448d
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Rocky II is a perfect example of how to make a sequel, presenting us with a literal continuation of the events of the first film and deftly developing the story of the iconic group of characters that created the first film. The irony is that although Rocky II is obviously inferior in terms of quality (with a higher budget) this set of circumstances ideally complements the plot that is being told to us.

IF Rocky I was about the hero's journey in the most simplistic terms possible, Rocky II is a sour but funny exploration of the consequences of sudden success (whether deserved or not), where its protagonist stays true to his ideals but is involved in a set of circumstances that force him out of his comfort zone.

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It is a materialistic sequel, which leaves aside the oppressive but optimistic direction of the first part, where Stallone himself takes the reins behind the camera to give us a much lighter experience, which understands several of the strengths that made the character of Balboa so great in the first place, but from time to time fails to understand others.

The fact that Rocky II functions as a much louder sequel to what used to be a fairly timeless film creates a strange dichotomy where perhaps we are not looking at a masterpiece of the seventh art, but at the same time there is an indescribable nostalgia at each frame, which perfectly represents a set of elements that characterized the time in which it emerged (the end of the 70s).

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However, even those who deny the value of this and any of the sequels that came after (all quite inconsistent in terms of quality), it is almost impossible not to recognize how surprising it is that this franchise so effectively understood several of its most important traits. important: The beginnings of the friendship that Rocky will have with Apollo Creed, the internal debate that Adrian suffers every time the Italian stallion decides to fight again, as well as the excessive love that the people of Philadelphia feel for him.

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After almost a dozen films, Rocky II remains the one that was closest to the original experience, it is still a story of self-improvement, where the race to the top has many more slopes than expected.

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Rocky II es un ejemplo perfecto de como realizar una secuela, presentándonos una continuación literal a los eventos del primer film y desarrollando de forma hábil la historia del grupo de personajes tan icónicos que creó el primer film. Lo irónico es que aunque Rocky II resulta evidentemente inferior en términos de calidad (Contando con un presupuesto superior) este set de circunstancias complementa de forma ideal la trama que se nos está contando.

SI Rocky I iba sobre el viaje del héroe en los términos más simplistas posibles, Rocky II es una exploración agria pero divertida a las consecuencias del éxito repentino (Sea merecido o no), en donde su protagonista se mantiene fiel a sus ideal pero se ve envuelto en un set de circunstancias que lo fuerzan a salir de su zona de confort.

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Es una secuela materialista, que deja a un lado la opresiva pero optimista dirección de la primera parte, en dónde el mismísimo Stallone toma las riendas detrás de cámara para brindarnos una experiencia mucho más ligera, que entiende varias de las fortalezas que hicieron al personaje de Balboa tan grande en primer lugar, pero de vez en cuando falla en comprender otras.

El hecho de que Rocky II funcione como una secuela mucho más ruidosa de lo que solía ser un film bastante atemporal, crea una dicotomía extraña en dónde quizá no estamos ante una obra maestra del séptimo arte, pero al mismo tiempo existe una nostalgia indescriptible en casa frame, que representa a la perfección un conjunto de elementos que caracterizaban la época en la que surgio (Los finales de los 70s). Source

No obstante, incluso aquellos que niegan el valor de esta y cualquiera de las secuelas que vinieron después (Todas bastante inconsistentes en términos de calidad), es casi imposible no reconocer lo sorprendente que es que está franquicia entendiera con tanta efectividad varios de sus rasgos más importantes: Los inicios de la amistad que Rocky tendrá con Apollo Creed, el debate interno que sufre Adrian cada vez que el semental italiano decide luchar de nuevo, así como el amor desmedido que la gente de Philadelphia siente por el el.

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Luego de casi una decena de filmes, Rocky II se mantiene como aquel que estuvo más cercano a la experiencia original, sigue siendo un cuento de superación personal, en dónde la carrera hasta la cima tiene muchos más desniveles de lo esperado.

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Should I watch it?