Steady, if rocky in its trajectory; this first sequel just about holds its own without necessarily delivering that knockout blow the first one did.

Rating: 6/10 (13 August 2011)

We arrive at the first Rocky sequel recalling that the 1976 serial Oscar winning, and quite magical, first Rocky film was first and foremost a gritty; street-set drama about two people falling in love. The charm of it was observing a hulking and somewhat brutish, although measured, man whom exuded confidence but found it difficult to find the right words falling in with an equally young women whose eloquence happened to be one of her qualities, but whose shy characteristic made it difficult for her to truly connect with other people. Mingling around in the background was this boxing match, and an egotistical champion in the sport challenging a wild-card to a bout to prove he could, in a literal sense, just about beat anybody. It was the sports movie which wasn't actually a sports movie; a film finishing with a 'big sporting showdown' in which the only real victory was the two leads figuring out that they'd quite like to spend a lot more of their time with one another.
Rocky II kicks off with the final round of that fight, the titular Rocky's duel with an African-American heavyweight to whom he looses by the narrowest of margins. There is an unhinged inferring that that's what 1976's Rocky was all about; a fitting sentiment to begin proceedings when we observe this sequel is mostly all about the fight and the sports which formulates therein between the two, when allowing it to just blur into a more interesting tale, as was in the first film, is all the more engaging. That said, and by the time this first sequel is in full swing, one would have to be rather grizzled; rather sniffy to truly detest Rocky II - like the protagonist at the core of this edition, it is a tough film to love but an easy film to just slot into and generally root for.
When we begin, it is in the aftermath of the monstrous encounter between the proverbial underdog and the established champ: Stallone's Rocky Balboa and Carl Weathers' Creed, fittingly named Apollo as he seemingly reigns down over all around him and within his field. They are treated for the previous night's injuries, and stay in a situation of hospitalisation in the same institute. Around them lie a flurry of fans and press personnel, Rocky's newfound fame seeing an array of autograph hunters desiring interactions with the guy and his name on a piece of paper. Rocky states there and then that he's retired from the sport, a knock-on affect which results in his brother-in-law, manager and close friend Paulie (Young) to veer away and back to the illegal way of life that plagued Rocky's prior existence. It is additionally a decision that, once out of the hospital, sees Rocky revert to what his previous status was before this overnight thrusting into stardom; that is to say, to remain steady with sweetheart Adrian (Shire) and garnering whatever work he can to pay for the expensive gifts and great deal of love he wishes to lavish upon her.
In spite of his victory, Creed happens to want a rematch for reasons that are later revealed to be much more personnel to him this time round than the initial entry's blind egotism, and we feel a little more for him here. Rocky goes on to engage Adrian; an instance instigated during a surreal happening at an open-plan zoo under six inches of snow, in which the lone wildlife occupant of the place appears to be a tiger prowling around in his den. As Rocky and Adrian turn to leave, marriage proposal successfully in-tow, we observe the tiger emblem on the back of Rocky's jacket and sync it up with how out of place the zoo's tiger appeared; the sentiment inferring Rocky as a man having turned his back on the boxing world to do labour work, whilst keeping himself out of the limelight, is prominent and he appears under this guise as out of sorts with the nature of this existence, just as the tiger in the snow appeared to.
We realise before Rocky that his spending ways cannot be supplemented by his meat stacking profession, nor his temperamental nature of trying to shoot TV adverts with equally temperamental directors. He realises coming back out of retirement is the only option, and we are weary of such a decision; weary of Creed's own apparent dedication to right-wrongs; weary of what Rocky has on the line to loose, specifically his sight in one eye and his family of Adrian as well as a newborn son whom arrives as the pressure cooker intensifies. We are weary of Rocky's own dedication, and whether he is genuinely transferring back to a life as a boxer once more out of fondness for the sport or if it is for a cash injection; made weary by his trainer Mickey's (Meredith) deduction, and it's a deduction we trust, that Creed will near-enough kill him if they were to fight again. It is a moment captured quite wonderfully by Stallone's positioning of his character in a doorway, as his trainer stands just outside and his wife on the stairs fearing for his health: the mind has been made up, and Rocky proceeds through the portal and back into his old world away from what's homely and safe. The film is not without merit; its final duel is constructed edifyingly, but its training montages are shot with too much intensity given the material, and the whole thing is too self-aware of its own core dramatics when a fourth-wall breaking telecast greets us ringside upon entry to the stadium – we are here, in this sequel, to see the fight and only the fight. Regardless, we're behind the characters enough to want them to succeed; Rocky himself states at one point that he'd be nothing and nowhere without the lovely Adrian – we'd be at a loss in backing him if he weren't.