Pretty good, but until the second half, doesn't seem like the sequel to a classic

Rating: Null/10 (7 September 2003)

At the beginning, Rocky Balboa has been badly beaten up by Apollo Creed. Both have been taken to the hospital. Mickey thinks Rocky won the fight, and so do lots of fans. But the judges said Apollo won, and Apollo wants a rematch.
Once he is out of the hospital, Rocky marries Adrian and starts spending money he doesn't really have. He tries doing commercials but he isn't much of an actor. Rocky also gets a job in a meat-packing plant, while Adrian, who is pregnant, goes to work in a pet store. Rocky is not pleased that he can't support his family himself, so he considers returning to boxing, even though he risks going blind in one eye, and he could still get hurt simply because of being unable to see well from that eye. Meanwhile, Apollo hasn't given up on his challenge.
Before this movie I had only seen the fifth movie in the series. I was beginning to think that one was going to be the better of the two, and surely this one wasn't going to come close to what I had heard about the original. The second half definitely makes this movie work, though. And Burgess Meredith and Carl Weathers gave good performances. Sylvester Stallone is a better actor when he's not talking. Throughout the whole movie he sounded like a comic impression of himself. At least in V, he talked normally in one scene.
I liked the funny parts, such as the commercials, and his talking to a tiger at the zoo when he proposed to Adrian. The second half was more exciting and had some sad moments as well. Did Rocky fight again? More importantly, did he win? The Rocky of the first half was a joke, and I thought the answer was going to be obvious. Not true.
This was a pretty good movie, and one of these days I have to see the original.