Right so now I'm getting onto part 2 of my posts on the Rocky film series, and this post will cover Rocky II, which takes off where the first film ended. The film was written and directed by Sylvester Stallone himself and it was released back in 1979. So let's give it a look....
So the film starts where the first film ended with Rocky (Stallone) losing a close fight to Apollo Creed (Carl Weathers). After the fight, both men are taken to the hospital due to the extent of their injuries and Apollo challenges Rocky to another fight, but Rocky declines as he announces his retirement. Rocky also requires sugery for his eye as he had a detached retina from the fight and the doctors also insist they he doesn't fight again as it could lead to permanent blindness. After his release from hospital, Rocky gains more publicity from the fight and he enjoys a few of the spoils from the money he gained from the fight and he proposes to Adrian (Talia Shire) and they both soon marry and Adrian becomes pregnant. Rocky also gains an agent who tempts to get him sponsorship deals in order to make a real name for himself, however this soon goes awry during a film shoot for a commercial when Rocky reveals he can't read well. Rocky also soon lands himself into financial difficulty and due to his lack of work experience is eventually forced to take a manual labour job at Paulie's meat packing plant.
Meanwhile Apollo Creed has become obssessed with the notion of a rematch with Rocky as he receives hate mail from the public saying how Apollo was lucky to have won and this time Apollo wants to prove that Rocky's performance was nothing but a fluke. Apollo then insists despite his team's protests that he wants them to find a way to goad Rocky out of retirement and back into the ring. Rocky in the meantime is paid off from the meat packing plant job due to cut backs and he approaches his former manager, Mickey (Burgess Meredith) to ask him to train him again to fight for a rematch with Apollo, but Mickey refuses as he fears that Rocky might go blind as a result. Rocky then asks Mickey if he can help out at the gym, and he does so but is also subject to some ridicule from the boxers there and Rocky also finds a newspaper with a smear campaign against him by Apollo. As Rocky goes home that night he sees Apollo being interviewed on TV who dares Rocky to come out of retirement to fight him again just to prove that he was just lucky. Outraged by the interview, Mickey goes to Rocky and changes his mind and they begin training for the fight, much to Adrian's disapproval.
As Rocky begins his training however he clearly lacks focus due to the lack of support he receives from Adrian, and Rocky's friend and Adrian's brother, Paulie (Burt Young) approaches Adrian and confronts her over this, but as the two of them argue she faints and is rushed to hospital. At the hospital Adrian goes into labour and has her baby, which is born premature, however as a complication to the birth, Adrian falls into a coma. Rocky then puts aside his training as he sits by Adrian's bedside in hospital and prays for her in church as well. Adrian eventually recovers from the coma and the two of them are reunited and introduced to their baby boy (as Rocky refused to see the baby until Adrian had recovered) and Adrian asks Rocky to do one thing for her: to win the fight. And with that Rocky regroups and trains as hard as he can for the big fight which leads into Superfight II in a rematch between Rocky and Apollo, where this time both guys have much to prove as the film culminates in a tense and thrilling battle...
As a sequel to the original, Rocky II does a really good job in progressing the characters from the first film and for me it is a more entertaining and charming film than the first one as well. It still has a similar grimy feel to it just as the first Rocky film does, but this time Stallone manages to make the film that bit more accessible to watch, even in its slower scenes you are still drawn in by the characters and Rocky's triumph over adversity in the film is more compelling than in the original as well. Also in Rocky II, Rocky has become a more light hearted, funny and charming character, perhaps as a result of finding happiness with Adrian and getting married. Apollo Creed on the other hand is shown to be almost something of a villain in the film as he feels incredibly indignant by the hate mail he receives and is determined to prove that Rocky was just lucky in their last fight.
Getting onto the performances, they are all excellent once again, starting with Sylvester Stallone who provides another charming and winning performance (no pun intended!) as Rocky. Stallone also has plenty of good dialogue in the film as well, such as in the scene where he learns to read from a book and Adrian listens to him and she says "You read nice" and he says "Thanks, you lie nice!". Another is where he starts his training with Mickey for the fight, who has him try and catch a chicken in a yard to work on his speed, and Rocky grows quickly exasperated by his failed attempts and he says "I feel like a Kentucky fried idiot!". Also another funny line is where in his press conference with an agitated Apollo he lists the things he will buy from the fight such as "A nice perfume for Adrian, as she likes perfume, and a few hats for myself" and one of the reporters asks "Do you have anything derogatory to say to the champ?" and Rocky thinks for a moment and says "Yeah he's great!". Stallone also a good scene where he first approaches Mickey about fighting again and as Mickey refuses, he quietly asks if he can help out at the gym and Mickey says "what about your dignity? All those guys seeing you carrying buckets of spit around?" and Rocky chokes a little and says "I just gotta be around it.". And Stallone's fight scene with Creed also remains one of the film's real highlights during which he has another great line after the first round, he sits down and says to Mickey "I can't believe it! He's broken my nose again!". And Stallone also has a nice scene where before the fight, he receives a blessing from a local Italian priest in the neighbourhood at his request and he says "That's great! God bless you father!". And finally Stallone ends the film with a classic line when he announces to Adrian who is at home "I just wanna say to my wife who's at home, YO, ADRIAN!! I DID IT!!!".
Talia Shire also provides another quietly charming performance as Adrian, Rocky's shy wife, who starts to come out her shell slowly, but in the film she still play's Adrian very similar to as she did in the first Rocky where she is hardly that vocal, except in her scene where she rows with Paulie. Burt Young also nicely reprises his role as Paulie, who actually takes a bit of a back seat here in the film as he moves from working in the meat factory to being a collector for Rocky's old loan shark, Gazzo (played again by Joe Spinell). Young also get's a line which he oftens repeats in the following Rocky films where he gives Apollo a look during the press conference and he says "I don't sweat you!". Carl Weathers is also excellent once again as Apollo Creed, who this time has something to prove in trying to beat Rocky again in a rematch and as a result Apollo becomes something of a bitter and twisted character. Weathers also has some good lines of dialogue such as in the press conference where he says "This time come thanksgiving in front of his home people, I'm gonna drop him like a bad habit!" and "After I'm finished he'll have to donate whatever's left of his body to medical science, but there won't be that much left, that I can assure you!". And later at the end of the scene he angrily says to the press "Does this look like a circus to you, man?!" and he turns to Rocky and says "Come November, you're mine!". Also Weathers has a really good scene where Apollo meets with his team and he speaks to his manager, Duke (Tony Burton) who urges him to not fight Rocky again, and Apollo says "Do you think I beat him last time?" and Duke quietly says "You got the decision." and Apollo angrily replies "Man, I won but I didn't beat him!". And later in the ring, Weathers also has some good moments where he taunts Rocky as he outmoves him early on and he says "Man, you're too slow! You're too slow! Right get your cameras ready! He's going down..." and he proceeds to knock Rocky down, before the slugfest get's deeper.
And finally Burgress Meredith is terrific again in his role as Mickey, Rocky's trainer and manager, and he plays Mickey in the same cantankerous way as he did in the first film, except he also shows Mickey's compassion and concern for Rocky when Adrian becomes ill. Meredith also get's some of the best dialogue in the film as he chastises and encourages Rocky in order to make him work harder, and he says such things as "This time you're gonna be even more lethal, you're gonna be a 200 pound greased Italian monster!" and the classic line "You're gonna eat lightning and you're gonna crap thunder!". Also in the scene where Rocky comes to his apartment, he notices that Rocky has brought his dog (which was Stallone's real life dog at the time, named Bupkis) and he says to Rocky "What is that you got there, some kind of outer space monster?!" and Rocky notices Mickey's hearing aid and asks him what that is and Mickey relies "Oh this makes me hear stupid things better!". And while Mickey has Rocky try and catch the chicken in a yard, he asks Rocky why he is wearing an old torn top, and Rocky says it brings him luck, and Mickey says "It bring flies!". And my favourite is probably where Mickey after watching Apollo taunting Rocky on TV, goes around to his house and he says "I think we oughta knock his block off!". And lastly another classy one is when Mickey talks to Rocky about Apollo and how he is to be weary of him "Now he will beat you uglier than you are now!".
As for Stallone, he does just as well in directing the film as well as starring in it as he builds on Rocky's character from the first film and turns him into a more endearing character. Stallone also paces the film fairly well and the final fight sequence between Rocky and Apollo is easily one of the best scenes in the film as Stallone captures the excitement and tension of the fight. Moving onto the score, Bill Conti once again provides a nice low key score for the film, which comes to life during the fight sequence and he also reprises the film's memorable theme.
So as for flaws, does Rocky II have any??? Well it has to be said that while it is a better film in my opinion than the first Rocky, it still does feel a bit sluggish in pace at times, especially early on in the film where it meanders after Rocky gets out of hospital and he tries his hand at getting sponsorships through doing a commercial (only to find he can't read the autocue!), and his later struggle to find steady work. And it is important to show that Rocky has to overcome alot of adversity in order to try and achieve his ultimate goal of winning the title, but perhaps at times Stallone labours it a bit too much here. I also thought that it was strange how Apollo quickly decided that he wanted to fight Rocky again even after he arrived the hospital from their match, where he had just said to Rocky in the ring "There ain't gonna be a rematch!" and Rocky says "Don't want one!". It always struck me as a rather sharp sudden change in decision which goes very quickly against Apollo's previous decision. Although to be fair the crux of the film lies around the hate mail that Apollo received and how he resents it and that gives him the perfect motivation to arrange a rematch. Another thing that slightly bothered me was how Rocky could go from giving a very close match in his first fight against Apollo, to then barely winning a point in the rematch even though both men were trading serious blows throughout! As Rocky only managed to win a single round and in the end it was the technical knockout that won him the match and the title rather than him fighting fairly even on points like he did in the first film. Stallone is also a bit guilty of writing the odd bit of a cheesy hackneyed dialogue such as in the scene where he pleads with Adrian "Adrian, I never asked you to stop being a woman, so please, please don't ask me to stop being a man". However that is not a patch on what would follow in the next films! ;-)
Regardless of all that palava however, Rocky II is still a very entertaining film and a solid sequel to the original, which is nicely directed and written by Sylvester Stallone and acted by himself and the cast.
Next up round 3 (Rocky meets Mr T!) I pity the fool! Ding ding!
Till then bye for now!
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