Round 2!

Rating: 6/10 (6 June 2005)

A remake really, in which Rocky goes back to the ghetto to warm applause and Apollo Creed goes back to his mansion only to be horrified by the suggestion that, contrary to his feelings on the night, he had in fact been beaten in all but name by the big bag of muscles from the slums. The champion's vanity would shame Narcissus and he rationalises that Rocky's 15 round slog was a bit of a fluke, after all this is a man with an I.Q so low that only someone with Aspurger's syndrome can calculate all the decimals. If he can get him back in the ring for a rematch this should become obvious to everyone. That's everyone except us of course who could tell Creed he was setting himself up to be less Apollo 11, more 13 but nevertheless the stage is set for yet enough climatic confrontation. As we've already seen most of this movie in the first instalment it's only necessary for Stallone to make some minor modifications. His wife gives birth but goes into a coma prompting Rocky to lose his focus on the fight. Mickey reassures him by saying things like "You're gonna get KILLED" while Creed pumps iron and laughs off suggestions that he may be making a mistake, and so on and so on... Eventually we do get to the juice as Adrian wakes up and tells Rocky that for the benefit of the film she'll drop her objections and let him fight. At this stage all thats left is for that fanfare to come on, Rocky to play chase with some kids from the neighbourhood and the throttling of some poor chicken and we're off!
The second film lacks the freshness of the first but it's still easily digestible entertainment. As its unthinkable that Rocky could loose THIS time there's also the inevitable win to look forward to and although hardly a tour de force from a directorial point of view, Stallone does at least acquit himself well in the staging of the fight scenes and shows sufficient acumen in pushing the right audience buttons. Not a knockout then but at least a 6 count.