Review of Rocky II (1979) by Drew O — 12 Sep 2012

The original Rocky is an enjoyable film with good acting and an inspiring story. Though it was not without its flaws. I always found it to be rather poorly paced with subpar directing and a sometimes boring tone. Its sequel, however, is a much more well made film. The film and its story flows a lot better and there isn't any scenes where you feel like its wasting your time.

One of the big things I find to be far superior in this film is character development. In the first Rocky, the title character was, of course, the main focus. Little time was given to develop other characters except maybe Adrian. Pauly's character was poorly explored, and Rocky's loan shark boss is only there to move the plot along. One of the biggest lacks of character development in Rocky was Apollo. In the first, all he does is select Rocky to have a shot at the title and then fights him. Rocky II does a much better job with giving Apollo much more depth and makes for a much more interesting antagonist. Here you have a lot of time focusing on Apollo's frustration with his failure of the fight (he won, but by decision). This makes the final fight much more engaging and entertaining as you have insight on both sides of the story.

While the original Rocky is still a good film, Rocky II is better in basically every way. It's much better from a filmmaking standpoint, with improved editing and directing, and from the plot standpoint, instead of the predictable "rags-to-riches" or "underdog" storyline you get a much more engaging and much less boring film. Rocky II is my favorite film of the Rocky series, easily the best job Stallone did when looking at all of the films.