An excellent sequel to the enthralling original. Rocky punch blasts his way through this.

Rating: 9/10 (7 September 2010)

Rocky II I had the ultimate pleasure of viewing yesterday and I am pleased to say this was as excellent and exciting as the first one. This second part continues the story from the first one after Rocky's thrilling fight with Apollo Creed (Carl Weathers). It starts off with Rocky (Stallone) and Creed at hospital where Creed demands a rematch as his fans think the fight was fixed and that Creed has bought shame to his fans as he is sent hate-mail (later on in the movie), but Rocky refuses and his then girlfriend Adrian (Talia Shire) is relieved as Rocky refuses to continue his boxing. With the money he wins from fighting with Creed he and Adrian get married, get a new house, car and she falls pregnant but eventually Rocky ends up losing everything as he loses a contract to do a bunch of commercials and a job in the meat factory which he gets temporary. Meanwhile Creed demands a rematch to prove he can beat Rocky as he believes he was lucky as most people saw it as a draw or that Balboa was the winner. Eventually he agrees.
The story is different which makes it refreshing and it's a comfortable continuation of the story of Rocky and his wife. Stallone and Shire provide great performances and there are a couple of surprisingly touching moments. Even though when they get married it's a bit cheesy, it's sweet and cute in a way. Burt Young as Adrian's brother provides good support, but Burgess Meredith as Micky his coach gives an excellent performance pushing Rocky in his training to encourage him. The script is still formulaic from the first one, but it works and even though the character development of the main character's past dosen't go further, you still care about them.
This brings me onto the rematch between Rocky and Creed. It is brilliant. A very tense and atmospheric rematch, which gave me a buzz and had me cheering for Rocky. For me this fight was better than the first. I just got so caught up in it. This is a fantastic sequel and in the end I had a tear in my eye for happiness for Rocky as he wins. You end up rooting for him hugely in this. I now look forward to the third with more high expectations, which I will give my review on soon. Rocky rules!