Rematch

Rating: 7/10 (23 June 2019)

Apollo Creed was seriously dissatisfied with the results of the first fight with Rocky Balboa though he won. He won on a split decision and being the champ that wasn't good enough. He wanted Rocky one more time to punish him, and hush the doubters, and establish himself as the clear champion. As they say: pride cometh before the fall.
Whereas Apollo was singularly motivated you couldn't say the same thing about Rocky. He made a promise to Adrian that he would no longer fight and he planned on keeping that promise.
This Rocky lacked the appeal of the first. In this movie we saw Rocky kinda mulling about the first two-thirds of the movie. At first, he wasn't going to fight. Then he was taunted into fighting. Then, he wasn't really committed because of Adrian-it was all very soap opera. It was dramatic when it didn't have to be and it was outright annoying. There's little worse than seeing a person do something he's not committed to. Some may have viewed that as the conflict part of the movie that needed resolution, I saw it as the part of the script that needed rewriting.
I will say this: Mick (Burgess Meredith) stole every scene he was in. He was fantastic.
Let me also say this because it needs to be said: Rocky is a horrible boxer. He quite literally was using his face to block every punch. Did he think Apollo would break his hand on his jaw? This is two movies worth of data too so it is an established fact Rocky doesn't like his own face. But no brains no headaches.
As annoyed as I was with the listless Rocky and the face-blocking Rocky I still found myself pleased with the outcome. I still wanted him to win and still liked the dramatic finish.