Rocky 3
As the Rocky series became THE premiere movie franchise (along with Star Wars) of the late 70s and 80s, thus came this third entry from 1982 in the ongoing story of Rocky Balboa, street hood turned World Heavyweight Boxing Champion. In so doing, it gave a running start to two of the biggest pop culture icons of the decade, introduced one of its most definitive movie theme songs (Eye Of The Tiger) as well, and saw Sylvester Stallone shift the entire tone of the films from serious drama to high toned popular entertainment, with wild, colorful stories that had imaginitive stretches from reality, hateful, larger than life villains and a now established formula that sees the hero literally rise from the ashes to triumph in the end. The story sees Rocky And Crew become accustomed to life after narrowly defeating Apollo Creed for the title in the previous film. Money, celebrity status, and 10 title defenses leading up to an insane exhibition bout with the World Wrestling Champion Thunderlips, played by a then unknown Hulk Hogan in a scene that first laid down the groundwork for the birth of Hulkamania in real life pro wrestling. Problem is, thereâs a vulture waiting in the wings in the form of Clubber Lang, a large, strong, and very mean contender with a penchant for talking shit literally non stop to it seems everyone who comes within earshot. And as played by Mr. T, who became nearly as synonymous with the 80s as Ronald Reagan or Michael Jackson, he literally is a wrecking machine, able to back up all his tough talk in the ring, although he would seem to have a bit of a stamina issue like Mike Tyson, whose real life rise in the sport this character possibly foreshadowed. As it turns out, Mickey (Burgess Meredith in his farewell to the series) has been protecting Rocky by giving him easy, hand picked opponents (i.e. tomato cans) and wants no part of Clubber whatsoever. This somewhat âbetrayalâ on Mickâs part is the catalyst for the story itself, with many various departures from reality including having Rocky train for the Clubber fight in a large ballroom filled with literally hundreds of adoring fans and various musical acts (including Frank Stallone), much to Mickeyâs chagrin as he watches his charge give new meaning to the word âsoftâ. Also notable is the transformation of Burt Youngâs Paulie from a broken, bitter, annoying side character into resident full fledged comic relief as he (finally) officially joins Team Rocky as an assistant cornerman and has several legit very funny moments (notice his befuddled look when Hogan punches him out). And also I could have done without the dumb and poorly written scene of Rocky and Adrian in the bedroom where he teaches her his theme song. Of course, all goes to naught when Clubber destroys Rocky to win the title and Mickey suffers a fatal heart attack (brought on by a possible act of manslaughter on Clubberâs part), and Rockyâs world is completely demolished, until the strangest offer comes out of the blue: Carl Weathersâ Apollo Creed approaches and offers to train Rocky for the rematch with Lang, partly out of respect developed for Rocky as a rival and partly out of a strong distaste for Clubber due to having been insulted by him earlier (apparently Clubber has a dislike for âhas beensâ even if they are former black world champions), and now begins the so-called âevolutionâ of the Rocky character (already notated by his fancy clothes, lifestyle, and even his âsmarterâ way of speaking) into becoming his own man of sorts with a big brother / mentor figure as opposed to the crotchety old man who protected and babied him as if he were his own son. Much has been made of the homoerotic overtones of the Rocky / Apollo friendship but really itâs just one of modern cinemaâs first ever true bromances, with the training sequences reflecting that up to and including a pep talk from Talia Shireâs Adrian to help him get his head in the right place. Indeed, as such a scenario has never actually occurred in pro sports, it is interesting to see Rocky and company go out to Creedâs old stomping grounds in LA, and hook up with the reliable Duke (Tony Burton, a veteran of all six movies and whose real life experience as an actual boxer and trainer helped him bring so much underrated value to the series as a guy who really seemed to know what he was doing when it came to fighting), and thus Rocky trains âWest Coast styleâ with the help of Apolloâs black friends. If there is an overriding theme of this entry, it is perhaps that of maturity and developing an independent spirit within oneself, and it is a good movie in that regards, but it is the over the top, intensely frightening rage of Mr. T carrying this movie to another level that it probably wouldnât have attained if it still carried the dry theatrics of the first two entries. As a result, the series rumbles on, and surprisingly the best was yet to comeâŚ
8/10