Rocky II

Rocky II continued on from the first movie, and though it was no easy task, Sylvester Stallone did a terrific job returning to his now iconic role as well as taking on both roles as writer and director.

Rocky Balboa (Sylvester Stallone) has retired from boxing on medical grounds and is getting used to his newfound fame. Unfortunately, his post-boxing career has not flourished which sees him going back to dead end jobs such as working at the meat packing company with his best friend and brother in law Paulie (Burt Young) to keep his head above financial dire straits and his newly wedded wife Adrian (Talia Shire) vows to stay loyal to him. Meanwhile, Apollo Creed (Carl Weathers) is enraged by all the hate mail that he is receiving, mostly telling him that his championship match was nothing more than a fluke and vows to do everything in his power to goad Rocky Balboa into a rematch. Though Adrian is upset with Rocky's decision to return to the ring, Rocky teams back up with his trainer Mickey (Burgess Meredith) to regain his passion and pride.

The cast is faultless, and the spirit of the first movie still remains intact. In fact, I found the training scenes to be a lot more uplifting, and I found myself secretly cheering during the penultimate match. And the ending unashamedly had me in tears.

I've always had a soft spot for Rocky II and years later, it's one of the few movies that has me going through a roller-coaster of emotions. In some ways, I wish this was the ending of the first Rocky movie. But it is what it is. Still Rocky II is a worthy sequel that goes the distance.

8/10.