Review of Rocky III (1982) by Eric H — 18 Jul 2011

After the rather mundane second entry, the third Rocky film proves to actually be quite enjoyable. Since beating Apollo, Rocky has continuously defended his heavyweight champ title, and he has been living a life of luxury.

He is a little brighter and a little classier now. But the young, strong, and trash talking Clubber Lang (Mr. T's debut in a role he would repeat both on and off screen for years) wants to take that title.

Rocky wants the fight, but soon learns from his trainer that he hasn't defended his title against a proper fighter in his prime since he beat Apollo. After losing to Clubber in the 2nd round, and the Mickey dies of a heart attack.

..Rocky begins to retrain with Apollo himself to regain the title from Clubber. The film has a better story than Rocky II, and its melodrama is more effective (Mick's death is more interesting a story point and more realistic than Adrian's coma), the fight new and interesting with a better opponent (or at least a different one than just Apollo Creed).

I enjoyed Rocky III, sure it still doesn't come close to the original, but it was a decent sequel.