“Rocky” was a huge hit for writer/star Sylvester Stallone, however despite the film’s success many audiences and critics started to believe that Stallone was a one-hit-wonder, due to underwhelming box office numbers in subsequent films he starred in. 

To prove them wrong Stallone hit the mean streets of Philly once again, with “Rocky II” (1979) this time not only as the writer and star, but also as the director. 

In a character arc that once again parallels his own life, Rocky has to prove to everyone that surviving the 15 rounds with Apollo Creed (once again played by Carl Weathers) wasn’t just blind luck and that he actually does have what it takes to make it big.

Really most of the things that worked from the last film are in this and work just as well, if not better.

Just like last time, the film is a drama mostly focusing on Rocky’s life, both new and old. 

For instance, despite getting a nice paycheck from the fight, and officially getting married to Adrian (Talia Shire), he doesn’t know how to use his money responsibly. He buys expensive cars, clothes, jewelry, and even a new house without thinking about the consequences or even having a steady source of income established. 

But just like before, no one really takes him seriously, though the film takes that concept and cleverly flips it. Where before, no one believed he could be a good boxer, but now people think the only thing he can be good at is boxing or manual labor jobs. But he already retired from boxing, for both Adrian and his kid that’s on the way, and manual labor jobs aren’t exactly enough to pay the bills.

Speaking of things from the last film, the returning characters thankfully feel like the same people from the last film, it helps that their actors returned. But they don’t just go through the same song and dance from last time.

For instance, while Apollo Creed is a lot more aggressive and hungrier to beat the Italian Stallion than he was in the last film, he still has that sense of showmanship and ego from last film, just less pronounced. 

Or how Mickey (Burgess Meredith), his trainer, is still as blunt and crotchety as ever, but where before he went to Rocky to ask the boxer to let him manage him. In this sequel it takes a combination of Rocky asking, and Apollo bad-mouthing his fighter, to fire Micky up enough to train Rocky.

Speaking of the crotchety manager, he’s a scene stealer whenever he shows up. Whether it’s making Rocky chase a chicken to build up his stamina or just all the anecdotes he says for how dangerous Rocky is going to become (even referencing him as a “greasy fast Italian tank”) he also gets a laugh from the audience.

The score is once again done by Bill Conte, and is obviously still great with most of the first film’s score returning with a few new pieces that are just as good.

One of the few things that didn’t carry over from the last film is the budget. While the first film only had a measly one million dollars to work with, here they had seven million. This allowed them to do things, like actually have a lot of extras for scenes, have better sound quality, and being able to shoot in open areas with a permit.

Though that does add to one slight gripe with the film: The smaller budget really helped the original have this very down to earth and real feeling to it, while in “Rocky II” the drama and acting, while still top notch and down to earth, feels less intimate and grimey due to the higher quality technology that the budget allowed.

Another small problem is that some side characters from the first film show up again in this one when they really didn’t need to, as they add next to nothing to this film’s plot.

The only other thing that is bothersome is when one character completely changes their mind on whether Rocky should fight again or not in a very sudden fashion without really being given any reason why they would change their mind.

“Rocky II” is one of the rare sequels that is just as good as, if not a bit better than, the original and is worth a watch for those who enjoyed the first film.