Rocky II
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Rocky II is a 1979 action, adventure, sports, drama, comedy movie. It was written and directed by Sylvester Stallone, musically composed by Bill Conti, filmed by Bill Butler, edited by Janice Hampton, Stanford C. Allen, and Daneford B. Greene, distributed by United Artists, produced by Robert Chartoff and Irwin Winkler, and it starred Sylvester Stallone, Talia Shire, Burt Young, Carl Weathers, and Burgess Meredith. It is the sequel to Rocky from 1976, and was later followed by Rocky III from 1981.
Plot
Although working-class Philadelphia boxer Rocky Balboa (Sylvester Stallone) lost his high-profile bout with the cocky world champion Apollo Creed (Carl Weathers), his Cinderella story has caught the national sports media's attention, and he now has the opportunity to capitalize on his sudden fame. Meanwhile, Creed is still smarting from nearly losing to some palooka no one has ever heard of, and arrogantly prods his newfound nemesis into getting back into the ring.
Why It Has Greasy Fast Speed
- It is a great follow up to the first one, also, it is the closest in tone with the first one. It feels like a direct continuation, but not a rehash.
- Amazing acting from Sylvester Stallone.
- Excellent cinematography.
- Rocky Balboa is much more sympathetic in this movie. He was sympathetic in the first, but in this one he has a lot more going on in his life, what with having a wife, a child, and trying to keep his career going, not to mention Adrian goes into a coma when giving birth to their kid.
- Great soundtrack like Conquest.
- In the first movie we get to see Rocky when he's poor, but in this movie we get to see him when he has money to spend, which is very interesting. He's very impulsive and spends it all very quickly, like a lot of people would.
- Many more emotional moments than the first.
- There's a lot more comedy in this movie than in the first one, the highlights being the commercial scenes, and when Micky makes him chase the chicken, not to mention lots of humorous one-liners.
- The characters from the previous film are still likable, like Rocky Balboa, Adrian, Mickey Goldmill, Apollo Creed, and Butkus.
- The opening to this film is epic, it's also a reminder what happened in the previous film.
Bad Qualities
- The fights could have used some work. The choreography isn't great, and the punch sound effects aren't very convincing. However the punch sound effects sound at least more convincing than the first film.
- Adrian's hairstyle is noticeably different and Paulie is thinner than in the previous movie, even though it's supposed to take place directly after the end of the first movie.
- There is no explanation as to why Jergens, the promoter from the previous film, is absent (in real life, the respective actor, Thayer David died of a heart attack before the movie was released).
Reception
Rocky II has a 71% critic rating and an 82% audience rating on Rotten Tomatoes, a 3.5/5 on Letterboxd, and a 7.3/10 on the International Movie Database (IMDB). Gene Siskel gave the film three-and-a-half stars out of four and wrote, "What is most remarkable about Rocky II is that it recalls so many scenes from the original film, which is only three years old and was shown on national television last fall, and yet—amazingly—it all works. Almost every bit of it."
Videos
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External links
Rocky II at the Internet Movie Database
Rocky II on Rotten Tomatoes
Rocky II on Metacritic
Rocky II on Letterboxd