Ding ding!

Rating: 7/10 (4 September 2019)

Round three of the Rocky story continues to dispense with reality, Philly's famous fighter slowly becoming a parody of his former self. At the start of the movie, Rocky Balboa (Sylvester Stallone) is still Heavyweight Champion, having successfully defended his title against numerous contenders, but after Mickey (Burgess Meredith) reveals that the fights have been against 'soft' opponents hand-picked to keep Rocky on top, the boxer begins to doubt himself. When Rocky finally comes up against a genuinely dangerous opponent, bruiser Clubber Lang (Mr.T), he loses his title and develops a psychological block. However, with the help of one-time rival Apollo Creed (Carl Weathers), who would like nothing better than to see the arrogant Lang defeated, and with the support of his loyal wife Adrian (Talia Shire), the Italian Stallion regains the 'eye of the tiger' and rises up to the challenge of his rival. Dun... dun dun dun... dun dun dunnnnnnn....
It's very silly at times and rarely feels like anything other than a formulaic Hollywood sequel, but knock me down and count to ten if I didn't have a good time. An early charity fight against Hulk Hogan (as wrestler Thunderlips) sets the tone: this is more 'comic-book' than the previous movies, the violence shrugged off by those involved (and boy, does Rocky get pummelled big time!). In Rocky's rematch against Clubber, virtually every punch hits its target and is accompanied by a bone-crunching wallop sound effect, yet both men carry on despite a clobbering that would put mere mortals like you and I in the ground, making it about as realistic as an episode of the Mr. T animated series that followed shortly after. The iconic theme song by Survivor is the icing on the cake: this is great popcorn entertainment no matter how unbelievable it all gets.