Rockython: A Review of "Rocky II"

STOP HITTING ME THERE, ROCK. I JUST HAD MY APPENDIX TAKEN OUT.

Everybody loves a sequel. Sometimes, the only people that love the sequel are the people who made the thing, while the rest of us turn up our nose at it and it becomes a filmmaking punchline for the rest of time. Lookin' at you, Batman & Robin, Superman IV, Terminator 3, Stayin' Alive, Rambo III, The Godfather Part III, RoboCop 3... alright I guess if you're the third, you're basically dead meat from the word "Action". Sometimes though, a sequel just feels right, even if everyone else says it doesn't. This is Rocky II, a movie that teaches us that the perfect ending to your predecessor is nice and all, but nothing will beat the much more euphoric ending everybody wants.

"Rocky, promise me we're done after this one."
"Hey yo, I make no promises."

Rocky, as I said, had the perfect ending. It ended with Rocky, beaten to shreds and swollen to hell, embracing his girlfriend Adrian and professing his love, not caring that just in the background, Apollo Creed was named the winner of their bout by split-decision (In boxing terminology, a split-decision is when a fight goes the full number of rounds and it becomes up to the judges to decide the winner, rather than being decided by knockout or fight stoppage). Rocky II then picks up immediately after the fight following a recap. Apollo (Carl Weathers) and Rocky (Sylvester Stallone) are taken to the same hospital. Despite their mutual agreement not to seek a rematch initially, the sequel demands... er... I mean... "Apollo demands" a rematch with Rocky, but Rocky declines and retires on the spot. His girlfriend, Adrian (Talia Shire), supports his choice, as do his doctors, who reveal that he will require surgery for a detached retina suffered by taking five hundred certified Apollo jabs in one night straight to the face, a condition that could lead to permanent blindness. In a private moment, Rocky goes to see a recuperating Apollo, and wants a truthful response to his question of whether Apollo gave his all in the fight; Creed confirms that he did... though later he would for some reason claim he took the light too lightly? Perhaps it was just to sell how ferocious he'd be in the rematch, but eh... a little contradiction there. After Rocky is released from the hospital, he enjoys the benefits of his life's changes: Rocky's new fame attracts an agent who sees Rocky as a potential endorsement and sponsorship goldmine, and his sudden wealth encourages him to propose to Adrian. She happily accepts, and they marry in a small ceremony. Soon after, Adrian reveals that she is pregnant.

"So Rock, how much of a jerk am I in this scene?"

"Not too big. Now the next one? Holy tomatoes, you could

pass for Satan!"

Meanwhile, fueled by hate mail claiming he fixed the fight in order to protect his reign as champ, Apollo becomes obsessed with the idea that a rematch is the only way to prove that Rocky's performance was simply a fluke. Determined to rectify his boxing career's only blemish, Apollo ignores all pleas by his friends and family to forget about the fight, and instead demands his team do whatever necessary to goad Rocky out of retirement. In a pivotal exchange, Tony "Duke" Evers (Tony Burton), Apollo's trainer, begs Apollo to forget Rocky, saying that he watched Apollo beat Rocky to shit and Rocky just kept coming back for more, subtly implying that a rematch could effectively end Apollo's reign as champion, as Rocky could come back hungrier than ever. Rocky, at first, seems unaffected by Apollo's smear campaign, but his inexperience with money causes him to run into financial problems. After several unsuccessful attempts to find employment, Rocky visits Mickey Goldmill (Burgess Meredith), his trainer and manager, at his gym to talk about the possibility of fighting again. Mickey declines out of concern for Rocky's health, but he soon accepts after Apollo publicly insults Rocky. Adrian confronts Rocky about the danger of returning to boxing and reminds him of the risk to his eyesight. Rocky argues that he knows nothing else, so this is the only way he can provide for them. Adrian, furious at Rocky for breaking his promise, refuses to support him.

"Hey kid, hurry up and knock this bum out so we can
get us some chicken wings!"

Rocky officially accepts Apollo's challenge for a rematch. Rocky and Mickey then begin training, but Rocky is unfocused and unmotivated due to Adrian's disapproval. Adrian's bag of dicks brother, Paulie (Burt Young), confronts his sister about not supporting her husband... you know, like a real jerkbag, and she faints during the confrontation and is rushed to the hospital where she goes into labor. Sheesh what a jerkbag, I swear. Despite being premature, the baby is healthy, but Adrian falls into a coma. Rocky blames himself for what happened, refusing to leave Adrian's bedside until she wakes up, and will not go to see his new baby until the baby can be together with his mother. When Adrian comes out of her coma, she finds Rocky by her bedside, and the couple are shown their new baby, a boy, which they name Robert "Rocky Jr." Adrian gives her blessing to the rematch, and Rocky quickly gets into shape for the fight. This movie not only gives us one training montage, but two. A sequel means double the training, and double the training means double the POWER... I have no idea what I'm saying right now.

On Thanksgiving, the night of the rematch... dubbed "SuperFight II" for some reason since the first one wasn't dubbed "SuperFight", Apollo makes a public goal of beating Rocky in no more than two rounds to prove the first match going the distance was a farce. Rocky, fighting right-handed to protect his eye instead of his natural southpaw, is knocked down twice by Creed and outclassed for much of the fight. As with their first fight, this match goes the full fifteen rounds, by which time Creed is well ahead on points and only needs to stay away from Balboa in the final round to win the fight by decision. However, Creed refuses to let another points decision decide the fight, knowing full well that he'd just have to challenge Rocky to another rematch in Rocky III if he doesn't. In the final round, Rocky switches back to his natural southpaw stance, and in dramatic fashion, unleashes a series of counter punches on Creed, turning the tide. Both men, exhausted, trade punches until they knock each other down. As both men struggle to regain their feet, Rocky is able to will himself up at the count of nine while Apollo collapses from exhaustion, giving Rocky the win by knockout, making him the new heavyweight champion. Rocky then gives an impassioned speech to the crowd and holds the belt over his head with a message for his wife, who is watching the fight on TV: "Yo, Adrian, I did it!"

This screenshot was taken immediately after Carl Weathers
told Sylvester Stallone that he had a fly buzzing around his
head.

Rocky II has the same level of emotional impact as Rocky, being more a character-driven drama than a sports-driven epic and this time, it is all thanks to Stallone, who not only starred in and wrote the movie, but directed it as well. Stallone would go on to direct three more Rocky films, including the final main series film Rocky Balboa in 2006. Rocky II gave us the ending to Rocky's quest to beat Apollo for the title that Rocky could have given us, but if you ask me, it made this movie's ending all that much sweeter. Having Rocky come that close but lose by points decision made this fight's impact much more noteworthy. In this fight, Rocky is seeking to finally win the title and prove to everyone that he's not a fluke while Apollo seeks to put Rocky away early and retain the title to prove that Rocky was indeed a fluke. This time its even portrayed that Apollo is taking his training much more seriously than in the previous film... where you didn't see him train at all. This time, he trains on screen and he's a madman. It's another underdog story all over again. That's why, in my eyes, Rocky II has the best fight out of all of them. The emotion, not to mention the choreography and the escalation. What's great is that Rocky is the clear loser by the end before the knockout. Apollo trained hard for it and outclassed Rocky on all scorecards, but Apollo's on ego and determination to take Rocky down was his undoing, allowing Rocky to wail on him in the final round and secure the knockout and the title.

"Sly, I'm going to do more damage to you than Rhinestone."

I love this movie, but its not as memorable to me as the fight is. It does show Rocky's struggle to handle money, being new to obtaining wealth, and trying to adjust to life after boxing, but the call of the ring as well as Apollo's taunts make it the only thing Rocky can do to provide for his family and prove to everyone that he wasn't just another bum from the neighborhood. Despite the arguments against it from both Adrian and Mickey, Rocky proves to everyone that he has what it takes and wins the fight. There's even a story arc for Mickey that culminates here, as Mickey always wanted to train a championship contender and gets one. The story feels like the perfect extension of Rocky, the emotion is still there, the drama is there, and the feel-goodiness is there too. What's great about the Rocky saga is that each movie incorporates real-life elements from Stallone's actual life and career. Rocky II shows us that Rocky, despite rattling the heavyweight champ, was quickly forgotten after his success, something Stallone knew all too well after his first two post-Rocky movies, F.I.S.T. and Paradise Alley both tanked at the box office. Rocky and Rocky II are a great one-two drama punch on a Saturday night movie viewing. Pun definitely intended. While it doesn't receive the same level of acclaim as Rocky, I say Rocky II is probably the best possible sequel we could've gotten. Give a watch if you haven't, but only after having watched Rocky beforehand.