Day 61: June 30th, 2010

Rocky III



Rocky defeats racism.

Third round, here we go. Rocky is defeated by Mr. T because he pities the fool. Mickey dies and Rocky cries. Apollo decides to retrain Rocky, get him back to tip top shape and reclaim his title. Oh yeah, Hulk Hogan makes an appearance.

The third film is a mish-mash of things. Sometimes it's great, sometimes it's awful. The death of Mickey, while emotional for all of us, felt forced in some ways. They needed to push the emotional envelope for the character, it works well in that he losses the fight and has to be trained by another boxer, but I can't shake that feeling that it was used to play with the audience emotions. Mickey, the guy who taught us to eat lightning and crap thunder was gone. His death was laughable, but the emotional baggage brought with it was an interesting aspect to the film.

Rocky fights two entertainment icons. One is the wrestler Hulk Hogan, the scene is suppose to be the two putting on a show, but one takes it more seriously than the other. The second is of course, Mr. T. This film shows Clubber Lang as a dangerous opponent. But also this film shows that it dives right into the campy material. It's freaking Mr. T.

We see the montage, we hear the Eye of the Tiger, all classic moments from the series. The fight scene is well choreographed, but fails to take place in reality. As with each passing film, the fights get less and less believable, all for the sake of entertainment. Each punch sounds like pure movie magic, nothing that would really happen when you punch a guy. The next film does this too. In fact, they all do.

Clubber Lang, cartoon likeness aside, is a great opponent, or villain as they say, for Rocky. Apollo Creed may be the best boxer, but Clubber Lang does the most damage to Rocky. Rocky III is a film that is watchable, with classic moments from the series. If you are a fan of Rocky, this one makes the list.

5.5/10