1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Rocky II: The Little Discussed Sequel, December 25, 2011
This review is from: ROCKY/TRIPLE PACK ROCKY I, II, III (DVD)
I must give a review of Rocky II. This is the Rocky movie which rarely gets discussed. Every other Rocky sequel receives discussion but this is the one which is in the back burner. Now Rocky has decided to retire after the injuries sustained in his epic fight with Apollo Creed has forced him to do. He tries to cash in on his fame by doing commercials but the problem is he is uneducated and can not read very well. His lack of education is apparent as he can not get any job aside from menial wage labor. Balboa takes up hauling meat in Paulie's old job in the meat hauling plant but is subsequently laid off a short time later. Rocky then takes up a job carrying around a spit bucket in Mickey's old gym. This is degrading as he was considered a legend for coming so close to upsetting the Heavyweight Champion of the World a few months earlier. Now he's hauling a spit bucket and in order to pay rent for their house Adrian takes up her old job in the pet store. A few of the boxers training make fun and insult him. Meanwhile, Apollo is obsessed with a rematch with Rocky, despite pleas from his trainer Tony "Duke" Evers to forget about the fight and take on other contenders in the top ten. He doesn't and proceeds to call Rocky out for a rematch. Using whatever means at his disposal, such as having cartoons of Apollo standing over beheaded chicken with the caption reading The Italian Chicken or insulting Rocky on TV, Apollo is trying to prove the first fight was a fluke.
Not wanting to give away too much of the storyline away a few scenes stand out. First, credit is due to Carl Weathers. He showed outstanding boxing skills, especially his stinging left jab. He rarely gets the respect he deserves but he showed impressive boxing skills in the Rocky movies. Good footwork, good movement and a helluva left jab. Stallone tries to show how uneducated Rocky is in the first thirty minutes of the movie. But he tries too hard. For instance, shortly after his marriage to Adrian Gazzo asks him whether he would want to invest in condominiums and, confusing condos and condoms, Rocky replies that him and Adrian never used them. Or when he was doing the cologne commercial his illiteracy is shown in embarrassing detail. Instead of reading the line which says, "Smell Manly," he reads "Smeal Mainly." Rocky II does a good job of portraying a fighter in the aftermath of the fight and injuries sustained in such an epic war. Rocky suffered injuries in his right eye in his first fight with Creed but there isn't a good explanation as to how he would be allowed to fight again in his rematch with Apollo, given the high risk of him suffering from a permanent injury and possible blindness. The only explanation is Rocky changing his fighting stance to right handed instead of southpaw. Although Stallone was trying to get the audience to sympathize with Rocky's illiteracy and how a lack of education closes off a lot of doors, I inadvertently started laughing. It is a shadow of the original but this was still an entertaining Rocky movie.
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4 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
You will learn hell a lot - I am talking about life skills - from this movie!, February 6, 2007
This review is from: ROCKY/TRIPLE PACK ROCKY I, II, III (DVD)
Since I was a kid, I love to watch action movies.
I often go to watch action movies - even though they may be deemed 'no-brainers' - with only two objectives in mind. One, to be entertained, & two, to learn something useful.
Sylvester Stallone is one of my favourite action movie stars, despite the fact that he has drooping eyes, a crooked mouth & talks funny. I have watched many of his action movies, which included Rocky I to III, Rambo I (First Blood) to III, Judge Dredd, The Specialist, Demolition Man, Cliffhanger, Tango & Cash, Cobra & Nighthawks.
I would like to single out one of his action movies, Rocky III, which I thought shares many valuable learning points in terms of life (survival) skills.
The focus of the entire movie centres on his reluctant return (again as Rocky Balboa) to the ring after an earlier brutal knock-out & devastating defeat by Clubber Lang (played by Mr T), with the encouragement of Apollo Creed (played again by Carl Weathers). Rocky struggled through his fears & anguish as he kept playing the vivid images of past defeat in his mind.
On the other hand, Apollo kept drumming into Rocky's thick skulls about the urgent need to regain his fighting spirit.
It was very interesting to watch both of them & also to listen to their witty dialogue, as Rocky struggled to attain his former killer instinct, the eye of the tiger, while undergoing intensive re-training. Flashbacks of his failed encounter with Clubber Lang constanly kept Rocky awake at night. It was quite fun to watch Mr T in his meanest role as a wrecking machine in the ring.
In one early training scene, Rocky was really exhausted & he wanted to stop: "Let's do it tomorrow." Apollo screamed: "There's no tomorrow!"
The scene at the beach & the subsequent dialogue between Rocky & his wife, Adrian (played by Talia Shire), was really touching & motivating.
A very concerned Adrian asked one pertinent question: "Why did you come here?".
Rocky began to reveal his inner fears & lingering doubts through his conversation with Adrian.
The final revelation actually came from Rocky as he yelled: "Nothing is real if you don't believe in who you are!"
A lot of the times in our lives when we encounter stumbling blocks or setbacks in our path to seek out our fondest dreams, we often begin to lose steam & doubt ourselves. This often happen to kids & teens when they get an F in a test or may be just flunk school. Like Rocky, we keep playing the images of self-defeat in our minds & begin to lose the original focus & intended purpose at the beginning of the journey.
The interview dialogue between Clubber Lang & the reporter was also witty but meaningful. When asked for his strategy to counter Rocky's comeback to the ring, his remarks were "Don't need any!"
When asked again by the reporter for his prediction, he retorted: "Pain!"
At the ring just before the fight, Clubber Lang said menacingly to Rocky: "I'm going to bust you up!" Rocky's immediate response: "Go for it!"
Putting these dialogues into a life-skill perspective, I am sure readers will concur with my following analyses:
- If we don't have a strategy in life, pain is definitely what we will get.
- The best way to deal with fear is to fight it! FEAR is just a FALSE EVENT APPEARING REAL!
- Alway believe in ourself & in our ability to perform & succeed in the things we are working on. Believing that we can make it happen is an important step toward creating a desired future. Napoleon Hill, author of the 'Law of Success', rightly said that, it takes a person half their lives to discover that life is a do-it-yourself project.
- In life, everything is possible; it's just a question of strategy!
If you have not yet watched Rocky III, I strongly suggest you watch it quickly & carefully. You will learn hell a lot from this movie!
All Mums & Dads out there, I strongly urge both of you to go & watch this movie with your kids & teens!
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