THE FOLLOWING REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS OF THE DISCUSSED FILM. READERS DISCRETION IS ADVISED.
Sylvester Stallone reached the top of the world when Rocky won Best Picture and it’s sequel equally became a box office success, passing on much needed inspiration to the audience. With these films making him a household name, we were on seeing the story of achieving the American Dream, but now it was time to see what happens when Will is brought to the test.
PLOT
Rocky III takes place five years after the Italian Stallion defeated Apollo Creed in a rematch for the heavyweight boxing championship. He has held 10 successful title defenses and has grown to be a respected public figure. After doing a charity bout with wrestler Thunderlips, Balboa considers retiring. During an unveiling of a statue of himself by the Philadelphia Museum of Art, he is challenged by the new number one contender Clubber Lang. Rocky accepts the challenge when he disrespects his wife Adrian and claims he's only been accepting challenges from lesser opponents. After this heated confrontation, his trainer Mickey Goldmill does admit he’s been doing the handpicking to protect him from going through the same damage Creed did way back. Upset of the realization yet still determined to prove himself, Rocky convinces him to train him for this fight. On the night of the match, things get hectic before the main event actually occurs. Lang tries to attack Balboa backstage, but only shoves Mickey before being escorted to the ring. This would result in the trainer to have a heart attack. Rocky would want to cancel the fight to focus on his health, but Mickey would urge him to go on without him while he gets medical care in the dressing room. Unable to fully concentrate, the Stallion would get knocked out by Lang in the second round, losing the championship. Despite a disappointing moment, he would choose to lie to Mickey that he won before he drew his last breath. As time would pass, the former champion would lapse into severe depression. When reminiscing at Mickey’s now closed gym, he would get a visit from Apollo himself. Due to being a guest analyst the night he lost and knowing what happened beforehand, he offers to train him for a rematch in exchange for a future favor. Wanting to redeem himself, Rocky accepts the offer from his former rival. They do their training in Los Angeles, but Balboa extremely lacks effort due to still feeling haunted by Lang. He does share with his wife how afraid he is to go on without Mickey, but Adrian tells him not to feel guilty of what happened to him and this rematch will help him come to terms with his loss. With this pep talk giving him the needed motivation, Rocky would give all of his focus on training. With the aid of Apollo and his trainer Tony ‘Duke’ Evers (Tony Burton), he learns to infuse his undisciplined brawling style with Creed’s trademark footwork, that’ll give him the speed to rebuild himself as a new fighter. On the night of the rematch, Rocky would give a much different fight to Lang: He dominates the first round and allows himself to take a beating during the second round while taunting him. Due to the taunts getting him distracted enough to tire himself out, Balboa knocks him out by the third round to reclaim the championship. The film would end with a cliffhanger, showing Rocky fulfill Apollo’s favor that is a third and private fight that would remain unseen by the audience to this day.
THOUGHTS
Due to being a casual viewer of the sport of boxing, I knew I was gonna be invested from beginning to end with the first two. And the same goes with this one. As a director, Stallone knew the action is what was gonna keep us plugged in, and he ensured such with the most action at this point. Two boxing matches and a wrestling match? You got me hooked already. Speaking of the latter, it was a bonus having actual wrestler Terry Bollea aka Hulk Hogan to play Thunderlips, who was an up and coming at that point of his career. He nailed the over the top & energetic personality any 80s wrestler would have at that point. Apart from that, I think the true reason this sequel generally works has to go to Stallone's creative execution on showing the importance of conquering fear. If you spend a long amount of time avoiding what troubles you, you'll never be able to bring the best out of yourself and won't reach standard expectations if not exceed them. Stallone captures that conflict so we’ll in his performance of the fictional boxer. Balboa was at the top of the world after all the hard work to put to be where he wanted, but his confidence was destroyed after such a shocking loss. It was fucking heartbreaking to see Mickey die as we all know how protective Burgess Meredith portrayed him. Before a dark fate, he was too stubborn to let Rocky lose it all at his prime and chose to protect him with the decision to handpick the past fights. He had to be there when it came to Lang because he wanted his last fight to be his best. Tears poured down my face when he told Rocky he loved him because there was no doubt how bad he meant it. Without a great mentor like him, Rocky never thought he could maintain his A game. But once he regained his motivation, he worked than harder and returned to the top where he deserves to be. Of course he would’ve not pulled this off with the people that cared about him. We still love Adrian here because Talia Shire shows her at her most assertive, knowing how much the sport means to her husband and refuses to let him lose his confidence. She told him exactly what he needed to hear and without her, there is no way Rocky would’ve worked as hard as he did training. Speaking of which, Rocky would also gain a friend unlike any he’s ever had. Apollo was not the first ally you’d expect because Carl Weathers made him a formidable force in the past two films. Now, he chooses to help his former rival because he knows what it’s like to not lose confidence. He knew Rocky deserved a better fight at his advantage because the first with Lang was a massive disadvantage. With his help, he was able to remind Balboa that you must always work hard no matter what stakes are at hand. And that is what ‘Eye of the Tiger’ is all about: Non stop hard work after going as far as you can. Although Creed spoiled the end result, I didn’t mind not seeing the third fight between both men because either way, both men are the best at what they do and they both know it. Last but not least, Apollo became a new ally in the first place because a new threat made waves. Enter Laurence Tureaud aka Mr. T who was dead on intimidating as Clubber Lang. Due to being younger than Balboa, he was hungrier to be at the top and didn’t care how far he had to go to get there. Since we never saw him feel any guilt for what happened to Mickey, you know he’s a true villain for such remorseless. For a man that has no heart is a true fool to pity and you pity him even more when he is outsmarted upon defeat. I'm not kidding when I say I enjoyed this movie, but even I can admit there were a few things that didn't make sense to me. Like for instance, I don't want to hate on Burt Young but Paulie is so misplaced compared to the rest of the series. Like we don't know how he lost his job in collecting loan sharks, which makes it hard for us to feel bad for him to feel abandoned by Rocky. And you're definitely testing our patience implying that he's racist towards black people. Sure Rocky should've invited him to his home since he went out of his way with Mickey, but Paulie should've bothered asking him himself rather than waiting. It would've not been a problem if he was already part of training his brother in law. I then keep wondering how the hell did Rocky not know his fights were getting handpicked? Five years went by and he was that clueless on how it got booked? I understand Mickey was looking out for him, but this would've not happened if there was an actual manager involved. And lastly, did Apollo ask for Rocky's waist size before lending him his trunks? I mean he had to ask Adrian in advance, otherwise he'd ruin the surprise. In short, Rocky III is a well made sequel that knew how to get you on the edge of your seat with its intensity and heart simultaneously. You need another batch of motivation? This could be the best one for you.
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