Rocky III (1982) Review

"No, I don't hate Balboa, but I pity the fool."
- Clubber Lang



Now the Heavyweight Champion of the World, Rocky Balboa (Sylvester Stallone) has defended his title for three years, but none of his opponents have given him a challenge.  Rocky is thinking about retiring until he is challenged by an extremely violent newcomer, Clubber Lang (Mr. T), and loses to him.  Rocky teams up with his old rival, Apollo Creed (Carl Weathers), to train for a rematch against Clubber, but is Rocky past his prime?


What Works:

The first two Rocky films were easy to get invested in because Rocky Balboa is such a likable guy, but the main reason Rocky III is investing is because of Clubber Lang.  The guy is a fantastic villain and extremely easy to hate.  Mr. T gives a terrific performance as the vile Clubber.  Apollo Creed was a solid antagonist, but you never hated the guy.  This time, we want to see Clubber lose more than we want to see Rocky win.

It's really fun to have Rocky team up with Apollo.  Stallone and Weathers have really fantastic chemistry and it's satisfying to watch the two of them work together to take down Clubber.

When Stallone gets his chance to be dramatic, he nails it.  In his argument on the beach with Adrian (Talia Shire) and when Mickey (Burgess Meredith) dies, Stallone's performance shines and we get a glimpse at the old Rocky.

The boxing scenes are excellent as always.  It's really satisfying to watch Clubber lose the second fight and the first fight is simply brutal to watch.  We also get a fight between Rocky and Thunderlips (Hulk Hogan), which, I gotta say, was really fun.


What Sucks:

I really can't stand Rocky's brother-in-law, Paulie (Burt Young) in this film.  He's such a pathetic piece of crap and the way he acts so entitled in the beginning of the film rubbed me the wrong way.  Later in the film, I think he is supposed to be comic relief, but some of what he says is pretty racist and that wasn't fun to watch.  It was just uncomfortable.

I mentioned the scene where Rocky and Adrian argue on the beach earlier.  Like I said, Stallone is great here, but Shire isn't on the same level.  This is her biggest scene in the movie and the first time we've seen her really argue with Rocky, but I just didn't buy it.  She couldn't match Stallone's intensity and just wasn't very good.

Finally, the formula is starting to get a little stale at this point.  Though this film does have an interesting and different story on paper, it feels like more of the same.  Don't get me wrong, I like this film, it's just that it doesn't quite have the same impact anymore.


Verdict:

Rocky III is a solid film with some intense fights, an excellent performance from Stallone, a fantastic villain in Clubber Lang, and whoever decided to have Rocky and Apollo team up was a genius.  Paulie sucks, Talia Shire can't match Stallone's intensity, and the formula is starting to get stale, but this movie has still got it going on.

 7/10: Good  

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Argylle (2024) Review

Top 10 Movies of 2023

Madame Web (2024) Review