Rocky II (1979)

Here we have "Rocky II", an American 2-hour film from 1979, so this one will have its 40th anniversary soon. The first Rocky won big at the Oscars and this one here is the sequel, the first of many in fact. It is once again about Sylvester Stallone, who not only wrote the script and played the title character like in the first, but even took over from the recently deceased Avildsen as director. The story continues right after the first ended, even the very same night as the two fighters are rolled out of the ring. And once more, Weathers' Apollo Creed is the main antagonist here as this film is all about a rematch from film 1. Never change a winning script may have been their idea here as you will find more parallels. Rocky is more than ever the hero for the simple, maybe underprivileged and they badly want him to win this time. But Creed will take his opponent seriously now for sure. The Oscar-nominated supporting actors are back to, even if Young's impact was really minimal. Meredith had slightly better material. And shire is back too, not just in a stable relationship with Rocky now, but even married and becoming a mother. Other than that, I had the impression they did not really know what to do with her character anymore as some of the film's weakest moments were about her like the proposal to call the kid Rocky Jr. or the rushed in coma drama honestly did not help at all. But on a more positive approach, the quote about a woman staying a woman and a man staying a man was maybe the most memorable moment of the entire film.But the film's biggest weakness, like for the first already, was the fight in the last half hour. It really is close to a negative deal breaker because it has absolutely nothing to do with real boxing. Cover (is that the word? we say "Deckung" here in Germany) and defense were completely nonexistent and honestly from the beating Rocky gets in rounds 1 and 2, it would have been over right away in reality. But here, of course the comeback happens. And don't even get me started on the synchronous falling down in round 15 (ofc!). It is highly cringeworthy and very obvious that this was actors performing a scripted confrontation. Such a pity as everything before was solid, even strong at times. The eventually positive verdict I give this movie is really only because the horrible execution in the last half hour still did not manage to destroy my curiosity who would triumph in the end. The film ends as abrupt as the first with the announcement of the winner. As for the first Rocky, that one also really struggled with the fight sequence, but had several other weaknesses too why I believe that this one we got here is certainly better than the 1976 film, which is perhaps the worst Best Picture Academy Award winner I have seen. This one here has better potential and I think if Rocky had decided not to fight in the face of the birth and his wife's critical condition (oh wait look at her miracle recovery), this film would have been even way better, a crucial character study. But I can see why they wanted the fight to happen again because many of the more simple audience members would have been disappointed with the build-up and then nothing. But these are probably also the ones who thought the fight was the best thing about the film and still think they know their stuff about boxing. Okay, drifting away now a bit. Overall, I give this first Rocky sequel a thumbs-up and recommend checking it out, even if turning it off after 90 minutes may be a wise decision and just read what happened in the final quarter.

Following on from the success of the first film in the series Rocky 2 continues the story and focuses on the theme of handling life after greatness. As Apollo's ego gets the best of him and forces him to pursue Rocky outside the ring to get him back into the ring we see an aimless Rocky looking for work and dealing with the fallout of being a celebrity. This movie improves upon the first with Rocky's trainer Mickey given a greater role in preparing Rocky for the ultimate rematch awaiting. Once again the soundtrack, the emotion and the fight this time bigger and more dangerous combines to create a master class film.

Rocky II continued on from the first movie, and though it was no easy task, Sylvester Stallone did a terrific job returning to his now iconic role as well as taking on both roles as writer and director.Rocky Balboa (Sylvester Stallone) has retired from boxing on medical grounds and is getting used to his newfound fame. Unfortunately, his post-boxing career has not flourished which sees him going back to dead end jobs such as working at the meat packing company with his best friend and brother in law Paulie (Burt Young) to keep his head above financial dire straits and his newly wedded wife Adrian (Talia Shire) vows to stay loyal to him. Meanwhile, Apollo Creed (Carl Weathers) is enraged by all the hate mail that he is receiving, mostly telling him that his championship match was nothing more than a fluke and vows to do everything in his power to goad Rocky Balboa into a rematch. Though Adrian is upset with Rocky's decision to return to the ring, Rocky teams back up with his trainer Mickey (Burgess Meredith) to regain his passion and pride.The cast is faultless, and the spirit of the first movie still remains intact. In fact, I found the training scenes to be a lot more uplifting, and I found myself secretly cheering during the penultimate match. And the ending unashamedly had me in tears.I've always had a soft spot for Rocky II and years later, it's one of the few movies that has me going through a roller-coaster of emotions. In some ways, I wish this was the ending of the first Rocky movie. But it is what it is. Still Rocky II is a worthy sequel that goes the distance.8/10.

I really liked the first movie, so i expected a good sequel. Was it? Oh yeah, it was. It was as good as the first Rocky!So let compare the two movies because they are a bit similar: same characters, same antagonist, similar story lines...I start with Stallone aka Rocky. In Rocky 1, he had great one-liners, he was very cool. In Rocky 2, he's as good as in the first movie, still cool one-liners, still cool, always playing with his little black ball and wearing his hat, i really like him. Mickey and Apollo Creed are as good as in the first movie.The chemistry between Rocky and Adrian is a little bit better than in the first movie, but still bad. For the second time, this relationship is the weakest point in the movie and destroyed a bit the overall impression.Worse than in the first movie is Paulie. This guy annoyed me and is the second big weak point in this movie. Fortunately, the relationship and Paulie are the only two weak points.The training sequences were, like in Rocky 1, awesome.The final fight is way better than the final-fight in the first movie.Summary: The movie has +/- the same positive and negative points like the first movie. The only thing which is worse than in the first movie is Paulie, and the only thing which is better than in the first movie is the final fight. So my review is similar to the first review. If you liked the first movie, and I'm sure you did, you'll most likely enjoy this movie.7,5 out of 10