3 out of 5

Director: Sylvester Stallone

Ah, sequels. Rocky II does everything the first one did – rags to riches for Rocky, hometown hype for the fight, a spitty Burgess Meredith who hates ’cause he loves, a quiet Talia Shire who proves to be Rocko’s main inspiration, training montage, last minute turnaround – but it does it without the ponderous, documentary style approach of Avildsen’s direction in the original, Stallone setting out to make this a pretty complete feel-good story.  And it is.  It feels great.  It’s also riveting… to a point.  Because what Stallone has exceeded at throughout his writing career is bringing a level of humanity to genre flicks, and as post film-1 Rocky burns through his winnings in a pure machismo attempt at being the providing man for his new bride Adrian, promising to make his keep honestly and through marketing from his newfound fame, we really feel for this character who struggles with doing anything besides boxing.  Sly knows his character and inhabits him fully, bringing the perfect balance of stupid smarts to his portrayal and dialogue without slipping into the hammy wisdom of a Forrest Gump type.  Without that balance, these flicks would’ve been empty.  But it’s still a sequel, and one that can’t add much to its foundation.  Thankfully we’re in a genre where a sequel is built into the plot itself – a rematch fight, since Apollo ain’t happy with the draw from film one – so though predictable and treading the same grounds as Rocky, it’s a logical extension.  Our boys have gotten a little bigger in this film and their footwork is better, but the blocking of the fight isn’t as good, as several punches don’t make contact.  Another bloody victory for Sly and Rocky, but a bit too familiar to have the same impact as the original.