Balboa clobbers Clubber (Rocky 3 (DVD))

Member Name: welshwickedone

Product:	Rocky 3 (DVD)
Date:	15/10/06 (302 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Good film, entertaining, great soundtrack

Disadvantages: none

Rocky III (Film Review Only).
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The Plot.
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Rocky Balboa is back except now the World Heavyweight Boxer title now belongs to him and after a few more fights he decides to retire whilst on top. Clubber Lang is an up and coming champion who wants the title and Rocky finds himself back in the ring.

The Storyline.
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After defeating Apollo Creed (Carl Weathers), Rocky Balboa (Sylvester Stallone) is finally the World Heavyweight Champion. He successfully wins his next few fights to maintain his title and then he decides to retire whilst on top. Adrian (Talia Shire) is delighted as is his trainer Mickey (Burgess Meredith), but Clubber Lang (Mr T.), an up and coming heavy weight boxer is not so impressed. Clubber wanted the chance to take the title from Rocky and so he begins to provoke him into fighting. Mickey and Adrian try to stop Rocky but he soon rises to the challenge against there wishes and the fight is on.

Mickey is furious with Rocky and during his fight with Clubber; Mickey tells Rocky that all his fights since Apollo were set ups to make sure he won. Rocky is in shock when suddenly Mickey has to be taken to the changing rooms with pains in his chest. The fight continues, and to everyone’s shock, Clubber Lang beats Rocky and takes away his title. Battered and bruised Rocky rushes to the changing rooms to go to Mickey at the end of the fight and just after he arrives, he finds himself having to deal with the death of Mickey.

Rocky finds himself in shock at the loss of his friend and trainer Mickey and his title; he does not know what to do anymore. Soon after Mickey’s funeral he is approached by Apollo Creed who offers to train him and make him ready for a rematch against Clubber Lang, but in return he must grant Apollo one favour. Rocky agrees and Apollo and his trainer Duke soon begin to train Rocky and set up the Arena for a rematch. Adrian cannot believe Rocky is going to fight again but stand by him eventually and soon enough Apollo and Rocky begin to build a very close friendship.

The rematch approaches and the training becomes more intense, until it is time to fight. The stage is set and the contenders take there corners, but who will win and what favour did Rocky promise to Apollo, that you will have to watch to find out.

My Opinion.
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Yet again, we are entertained with the continuing story of Rocky Balboa, an unknown boxer who has climbed to the top. In this film though we are also given the opportunity to see how easy it is to fall from grace as we get to watch an over confident Rocky loose his title to Clubber Lang. Again, Sylvester Stallone has taken on the directing of this film and done another fantastic job in my opinion. He seems to have the directing of these films now, well and truly in hand and is showing great experience and quality in his productions for which I applaud him.

The acting from Stallone, yet again shows great versatility and h once again gives us an outstanding performance in his portrayal as Rocky Balboa. In the film he manages to incorporate even more complexity into his character, although I have to say by the time he has made this film the amount of facial surgery he has undergone. It is really starting to show as he is definitely losing the rough and ready look he first had during the film Rocky 1. Talia Shire is also giving even more characteristics to Adrian in this film and she really has blossomed her character since the first two films. She is becoming a truly blossomed flower in her performances now and has made Adrian have a fantastic personality all of her own.

Burt Young once again stars as Paulie and the depth he now puts into his character is fantastic. Even though he began as the bullying older brother in the first Rocky film, it is great to see just how much he has developed his character and you find that you cannot help feeling for the character Paulie. This shows how well he has truly developed the character he plays.

In this Rocky film we get to see more from Tony Burton who plays Duke, Apollo's trainer except in this film he is helping Apollo train Rocky and you get to see that Tony Burton has a great acting ability for the first time. Carl Weathers has shown us a great deal of different characteristics during the first two Rocky movies, but in this film it is lovely to see how he shows what it would be like to have Apollo Creed as a friend. He shows that not only does he have a comical side and a serious side but also that he has a loyal side as well.

Mr T really gives us a good performance as Clubber Lang but you cannot help the fact that the way he talks instantly makes you think that Rocky is going to fight B.A. Baracus from the A Team. His hard man approach in this film is convincing and enjoyable to watch and when you think of the characters he always plays as a hard man, that it is hard to believe that he has a true loving side off screen. For anyone who did not know Mr. T does a huge amount of work in raising money to help under privileged children and donates a great deal of his monies earned from acting to donate it to many charities who help children.

Finally, it is nice to see an appearance from Hulk Hogan and it is a great appearance at that. The way he begins as Mr nasty and aggressive during the charity fight between him and Rocky and the way nobody can calm him down is brilliant. It is only made better though when he shows the gentle giant side after the match when he shakes Rocky hand. I really enjoyed this part of the film.

Rocky III gets another thumb up from me and a 9/10 for quality and entertainment. Next review is, I believe, one of the most popular Rocky films in the series Rocky IV. I can say it is my favourite, but then again I love Dolph Lundgren a well though mostly for his wonderful body, he he.




Technical Information.
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Cast.
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Sylvester Stallone Rocky Balboa
Burgess Meredith Mickey Goldmill
Burt Young Paulie Pennino
Carl Weathers Apollo Creed
Talia Shire Adrian Balboa
Bill Baldwin Bill Baldwin (Fight Announcer)
Tony Burton Duke (Creed's Trainer)


Director Sylvester Stallone.

Certificate PG
Year 1982
Languages English - Dolby Digital (5.1)
Duration 99 minutes (approx)

Summary: Another great Rocky film