ROCKY II (1979)

ROCKY II takes off immediately where the original left off.  After recovering in the hospital, Rocky decides to retire from boxing because Adrian is very concerned about his health.  Rocky and Adrian get married and with the prize money they buy a small place to call home, but soon the money has run out and Rocky has to get a job.  Adrian even gets a part-time back at the pet store despite the fact that she's pregnant.

Fuel by mountains of hate mail and sports commentators talking shit about his poor performance in the last fight, Apollo Creed has become obsessed with getting a rematch with Balboa.  He turns away more lucrative matches and refuses to fight anybody until he can clear his name and prove to the world that the last fight was just a fluke.  Despite his financial troubles Balboa turns down repeated offers for a rematch.  Finally, he cannot take it anymore and agrees to fight.  Adrian is not happy.

Whenever I watch ROCKY I usually just toss in Part II and look at it as one continuous film.  And it's easy to do since they are hooked together so seamlessly.  Sometimes I get all crazy and just watch the first four all in one giant megapump.  Back to ROCKY II though, it's a great film.  I have no idea if Stallone ever intended for the story to continue on and that's why he ended the original at the exact moment that he did, but II seems like a very natural progression of the story.  Burgess Meredith is even greater in this film than he was in the original, the music is back, all of the original cast appear to be back, the workout montages are back, in fighting to overcome the odds are back, pretty much it's just a lot of old shit from the first film all over again, but it works and it's a great movie.  Highly recommended.

Part 1 - Rocky (1976)
Part 3 - Rocky III (1982)
Part 4 - Rocky IV (1985)
Part 5 - Rocky V (1990)
Part 6 - Rocky Balboa (2006)
Part 7 - Creed (2015)
Part 8 - Creed II (2018)
Part 9 - Creed III

ROCKY (1976)

Made for a million bucks and filmed in just 28 days, ROCKY tells the touching story of an amateur boxer, Rocky Balboa, who was born and raised in a rough, run down as fuck neighborhood in Philadelphia.  Rocky supplements the meager boxing pay by being a collector for a local small time loan shark.  But he's not really good at it, since he's too kindhearted to revert to physical violence.  He's also in love with a nerd named Adrian, who works at the neighborhood pet store.  He finally, after a long time of trying, convinces her to go out with him.  The date should have been a disaster, but it's not and they learn that despite all of their differences their two broken halves make a good whole. 

At the same time, the undefeated heavyweight champion, Apollo Creed, has the opponent in his upcoming title defense fight cancel because of an injury.  Nobody else will step in since the fight is only five weeks away and that's not enough time to train.  Facing a financial disaster, Creed comes up with the idea of letting a local amateur have a chance at the title.  He ends up picking Rocky "The Italian Stallion" Balboa because he thinks the name will look good in lights.  Rocky reluctantly agrees.

There's much more to the film that I won't go into and ruin it for you.  I'll just say ROCKY is a really, really great film.  You might think that it's completely about boxing (and a large portion of it is), but I think it's also about unrealized/missed dreams (just look a Mickey's face as he's leaving Rocky's apartment), being a good human being (Rocky carrying the bum in from the cold, talking to the young girl, talking to animals, etc.), grabbing that one chance when you get it, personal growth (Adrian) and most importantly: love.  Rocky's devotion to Adrian is beautiful to watch.  I think the exact moment I decided to add ROCKY to my Best Film's List was when he asked where her hat was.  All of this shit he's gone through, damn near had his brains bashed out through his earhole and the very first thing he does when he sees her is express concern about her.

Beautiful photography, Burgess Meredith snarling, a perfect script, meat punching, chicken chasing, great acting by everybody, legendary music.  Highly recommended.

Part 2 - Rocky II (1979)
Part 3 - Rocky III (1982)
Part 4 - Rocky IV (1985)
Part 5 - Rocky V (1990)
Part 6 - Rocky Balboa (2006)
Part 7 - Creed (2015)
Part 8 - Creed II (2018)
Part 9 - Creed III