So up front, I need to make it clear that im giving this film three and a half stars…but its a STRONG three and a half. Thats because ‘Rocky III’ while VERY enjoyable, is ultimately a bit of a deflated experience after the first two films.
Picking up 3 years after the events of ‘Rocky II’, The Italian Stallion is on top of the world, he’s got luxury commercial deals, a nice big house where both him, Adrian, Rocky Jr. and his manager Micky are living comfortably without want and things just keep going from strength to strength.
However; things are about to become rudely disrupted when the number 1 ranked champion ‘Clubber Lang’ (played by Mr. T) begins observing Balboas fights and starts calling him out to challenge him for the Heavyweight world title. Which is problematic because…Rocky’s considering retiring shortly after a statue of him is raised in his home town.
However; at the unveiling, Clubber turns up a taunts Rocky and insults Adrian and Micky, leading Rocky to get hot headed and making him agree to finally challenge him. This is a TERRIBLE idea, as Micky shortly points out, because he reveals that for the last 3 years, Micks been curating Rocky’s fights to keep him healthy and winning. He’s keen to stress that these wernt ‘setup’ fights, but rather, he picked them knowing they wernt going to brutalize Rocky…Lang has every intention of trying to kill him. Aside from that and the various physical issues Rocky’s endured since his 30 rounds with Apollo Creed, Micky informs Rocky that he’s going to have to get serious VERY quickly if he has ANY chance of even HOPING to put Lang on the floor, and that he doesnt feel the ‘Hunger’ is there for the challenge…
And what follows is a story of loss, identity, facing your fears and adversity (without going into too much detail for the sake of spoilers)
Dont get me wrong, I really liked ‘Rocky III’, both this film and ‘Rocky IV’ were on constant rotation in my house growing up, alongside ‘First Blood’ so I know the films fairly well. But its probably been my biggest gap between viewings of this one (at least 15 years) and revisiting it now, especially off the back of watching the first 2 films, I do feel like some of the heart has started to leave the franchise.
The most noticable thing, and the thing that I feel really drags my feelings about the film down is that a LOT of the smaller, more insignificant ‘natural’ moments that were second nature in the first 2 films are largely gone. We get a handful of tender and real moments between Rocky, Adrian and Micky…But they’re all kind of strategic to the plotting and dont feel as natural as earlier entries. It feels like Stallone kind of forgot how to write ‘Rocky’ with this entry, and I can appreciate that 3 years of fame, travel and rich’s will change a person fundamentally. But what I loved about Rocky Balboa in the first two films is that he is fundamentally an under dog, but a humble under dog at that. He has simple pleasures, simple enjoyments and only aspired to be not more worse off than he was the day before.
This iteration of Balboa seems instead to feel like he ‘belongs’ to a certain status, and both him and Adrian remenice about ‘the old days’ as if they wernt literally only 2-3 years ago. Put it this way, in ‘Rocky II’ Rocky is BEYOND content to just stop by the local pet shop or zoo and hang around with the tigers or puppies. If Adrien is there, then its IMMEDIATELY a 10 times better experience. This version of Rocky? I dont feel would have the same affection.
Its not just character mannerisms though, situationally, there just arnt as many smaller nicer moments. Points in the film that make you want to be invested in these characters or this world. Rocky is still an engaging and fun character, but the heart isnt quite there, it feels a bit too polished script wise a bit TOO tight. and the lack of those relatable small moments really pulled me away from this picture. Part of that could be put down to the fact that this film is playing on the trope of ‘Man full of Hubris is knocked down a peg or two and has to work to get back to where he was’ but part of it I feel was just the creative decision to lose the ‘slice of life’ moments in exchange for firming up the base narrative (Balboa V Lang). Which I think is this films greatest loss.
Its also the beginning of the ‘Cartoonification’ of these characters as well, Rocky seemingly has endless powerscaling. After his fights with Creed he realistically shouldnt have been legally allowed to fight again…Letalone 2 rounds with Lang. Lang himself is an almost PAINFULLY cartoonish villain. VERY one note, unreasonably aggressive 24/7. It feels like Stallone wrote him specifically to be as unappealing, egotistical and unpleasent as he could envision an opponent being. Like…Creed was a gloater. But he was a fairly well rounded character, we got to see what he was dealing with and his life behind the scenes. Clubber Lang is just an asshole. and an entitled one at that. Which DOES make the final fight here all the more satisfying. But at the same time, it also removes any sense of tension.
The way the first two Rocky films were written and presented. you could FULLY believe Rocky COULD lose those fights if you hadnt seen the franchise before. But here? they set Lang up as SUCH a pantomime villain, that its almost a certainty that Rocky IS going to defeat him before the end of the film. which again, just sands the emotional edges off this film quite harshly.
Outside of the above, this films quite a bit shorter than the last two, and I feel the pacing struggles a bit as a result, while I appreciate that it handles itself fairly well, it feels like its racing to get us from set piece to set piece without really letting the audience breath or take in the atmosphere or intentions of the piece. They dont really lean on Rockys physical health at all in this one, which would make an audience think he’s pretty fair game, rather than a likely brain damaged, blind in one eye fairly out of shape boxer who really should have retired after Creed.
The characters are still fairly strong (Lang permitting) but they too feel like they’ve had their edges kind of shaved off a bit. Paulie has gone from a struggling, clearly mentally ill and abusive alcoholic, a figure to be pitied more than anything else, to a comedy drunk in the opening, and comic relief by the end of the movie. with the rest of the cast starting to fall into the pit that is ‘Flanderisation’.
Non of this is to say this is inherently a BAD movie, but its just a bit of a fall and pivot from what the last two films strived for. it feels less believable, less natural or honest.
Beyond the script, the rest of the film is technically on the level. Direction and cine maintain the momentum from ‘Rocky II’ though it is maybe a tad less willing to take risks over the last film for my money, composition is strong, theres some nice slow mo and tracking footage which works in the films favour, the training montages were relatively solid, but I dont quite feel they had the same strength as the last films attempts. Its a good looking film, but I dont think it nearly has as much power or enthusiasm as the last entry.
Performance wise? Stallone as Balboa here feels surprisingly low energy. If the first film was Stallones breakout as an actor, and the sequel was him proving his worth in the industry after striking out with an out of nowhere hit. Much like Balboa, he feels a little *too* comfortable here, too tidy, his performance is too polished, he doesnt quite nail that relatable and at times bizarrely awkward character. Its almost like he forgot how to play ‘Rocky’ and is doing a ‘Rocky’ impression based on what he saw when he rewatched the last two movies…which is a bit of a shame.
That being said the single greatest performance in this film absolutely HAS to be Burgess Meredith as ‘Micky’ who absolutely blossomed across these 3 films into a complex, infinitely likeable curmugeonly player, who outshines Stallone in this film with a performance that I would argue is in his top 5 greatest ever honestly.
Talia Shire is a harder performance to read, On the one hand I can interpret her turn as Adrien here as the continuing development of a shy and reclusive woman, slowly opening up to the world around her after years of abuse and neglect and learning to stand by, stand up for and support what she believes in. OR! similar to Stallone, she just hasnt quite remembered how to play the character and is doing an impression of an impression. Or it could be both…Who knows, I enjoyed her turn here, but with only one or two moments between her and Rocky for the entire films runtime. Its hard for me to truely appreciate her best moments because they seem to have been left on the cutting room floor.
As for the score? Not as good as last time being honest, Yes; this is the first film to feature ‘Eye of the Tiger’ (and believe me, I REALLY didnt like that they kept referring to ‘The eye of the tiger’ in the dialogue of the film itself…that was cringey) but whats here just isnt as poweful, energetic or well used as whats been and gone with ‘Rocky I and II’ again, its fine. but it just feels like its missing some freshness, a bit more power or energy which did ultimatley underwhelm the films pace and tone.
All in all, I like ‘Rocky III’ dont get me wrong, its still a fun and entertaining movie from a fun and entertaining series…But this feels to me less like a movie that NEEDED to be made, and more a film that felt OBLIGED to exist. and thats the key difference here. the first two films felt like Stallone and his team had something to say and show to the world. This? feels a lot more corporate and a lot less soulful.
Its a film in the middle of a bit of an identity crisis, which…at this point in time, Stallone was doing the same. So I get WHY it turned out the way it did. but the transition from ‘Slice of life’, real world, hard hitting, tonally heartwarming Oscar winning cinema, to totally silly, over the top, meathead action sports film is well underway. and if I remember ‘Rocky IV’ the way I *THINK* I remember it, I should be in for a treat VERY shortly…
TYTD Reviews 