My Review of "Rocky II"

Rocky II came out back in 1979. I loved the first movie and remembered not liking this second movie back in the day. Watching it today I have a different perspective as there are a lot of interesting aspects I didn't consider. Looking back, I realize that there are a lot of iconic moments from this movie that are still referenced today.

The movie starts off with a recap of the previous movie. It's very old school because I don't think they do this kind of film making anymore. This movie very much has the same feel of the original movie but you can tell that there are new modernized things about it. Maybe it's because it had a bigger budget than the original movie. You can tell some of these things from how much bigger this movie feels.

It then continues right after the first movie. Rocky and Apollo have to go to the hospital to tend to their wounds. Although Apollo mentioned that there won't be a rematch, he immediately changes his tone in the hospital. This is one of the weird tone and gaps that I felt very awkward when watching this movie long ago. There are some weird pacing issues throughout this movie as it will play with time a lot.

Rocky follows through with the promise that he will no longer fight in the ring. In fact, it's dangerous for him to go back to the ring because he suffered a very serious eye injury in the last bout. He and Adrian start their family. Rocky starts spending money frivolously because of his newfound money from the bout.

Before long, Rocky needs to make money. Due to his lack of schooling this is extremely difficult and he's forced to take menial jobs. Soon money is a big problem and he realizes that he has to get back in the ring.

Meanwhile, Apollo is embarrassed by his performance in the last match. His ego gets the better of him and he decides that he going to try his best to get this rematch going.

We also have another storyline with Adrian's disapproval of Rocky's wish to return to the ring. The way this was handled was possibly the most disappointing part of this movie. I understand the reason behind it but I really though they could have paced that a lot better with film techniques.

Some of the more iconic moments in this movie include the Rocky running with the kids throughout Philadelphia, Mickey telling Rocky to chase chickens for fast legs. Hell, the whole last quarter of the movie has been repeated numerous times in pop culture. I think people love this movie for these moments. I'm not sure if they remember the awkwardness and the weird pacing throughout this movie.

Still this movie was much more enjoyable this time around than I remembered it before. If you can shut off your brain a second it can be a great time. There are valid reasons for all of the choices that they made throughout this movie. I can see them but I found that the execution of some of the scenes were quite awkward.

Overall, I did have a good time with this one. Much more than I did in the past. I think I may have changed my opinion about this movie. It may no longer be the worst in the franchise to me. I'll have to watch the rest of the movies to really decide this but as a movie it's a fun ride. Since they do the recap in the beginning of the movie you don't really need to watch the first movie to enjoy this one either. I have to give this movie a 6.5 out of 10.