04/10/09 - Rocky III

Rocky III (1982, 99 min)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0084602/

I was expecting so much more from this film. I knew it as "the Rocky film with Hulk Hogan and Mr. T." I should've known it as "the Rocky film that is terrible in comparison to I or II." The only good parts were the Hulk Hogan fight and Apollo Creed's character being developed so well.

The most glaring point in this movie was that it tried to do too much. While the previous two movies had focused half and half or so on real life and then the match preparation, this one seemed to alternate too easily back and forth between them. Is this perhaps because, that for Rocky, these two have become so entangled that they are one and the same? Maybe, but I think it was just poor writing.

The next worst thing in the movie in my opinion was Mr. T himself. What a terrible performance. I was expecting him to be memorable for being awesome and tough. Instead, he comes off as annoying, delivering every line extremely dramatically and just overall badness. His fighting style isn't even memorable, just being a brawler like that, he seems more like a big doofus in the ring than anything.

The final fight wasn't good either. While the two previous movies had long lasting, grueling fights, the fight against Clubber Lang was a measly three rounds. The "strategy" of taking Clubber's best punches and wearing him out seems like a shoddy attempt at wrapping up the story quickly.

Overall, I gave the film a 3/10. I was extremely disappointed. The film was watchable, but hardly anything stood out as great. The Apollo Creed character development and the Hulk Hogan bout were the only highlights in this extremely disappointing installment of the series.