It’s not the perfect sequel, in fact it’s a staggeringly uneven one, but it makes it across the line in the end and provides an immensely satisfying conclusion.

| Original Score: 7/10 | Feb 6, 2024

This film is a predictable workhorse of a film with few surprises but an ending that will leave you satisfied.

| Original Score: 2/5 | Mar 8, 2023

Stallone captures much of the same look and feel of the original, and it works, even if it lacks the original's underdog appeal.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Mar 28, 2022

Rocky II, the sequel to Rocky, doesn't even add up to Rocky 1 1/4.

| Sep 20, 2019

Rocky II contains the flaws of the original: simplistic characterizations, saccharine romance, a tendency to cuteness. But it also fills the heart and quickens the pulse.

| Jul 17, 2019

Although Rocky II builds itself around a rematch between Rocky and Apollo, the movie is anything but a lazy sequel.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Jul 14, 2019

Rocky II plays like exactly what it is: a "greatest hits" version of the original, one that's tasked with moving the story forward while also re-playing a lot of the same beats that folks loved before.

| Feb 4, 2019

Feels like the most forgettable film of the lot.

| Dec 6, 2018

By the punishing heft of the big fight, there is the clear hint that the series will soon plunge into an unpalatable patriotic fervour. For now, though, with its leathery texture of working class Philly-life it felt enough like reality.

| Original Score: 3/5 | May 30, 2018

Sly sequel is as predictable as a gym workout.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Dec 15, 2010

Stallone and producers Irwin Winkler and Robert Chartoff know from experience audiences love to root for the underdog and have concocted an irresistible final 30 minutes.

| Mar 26, 2009

Pretty good sequel, among several that followed, this time directed by Stallone.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Mar 21, 2009

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Feb 21, 2008

Full Review | Original Score: 2/5 | Dec 6, 2007

Considerably less satisfying than the original Rocky, but head and shoulders above the later installments.

| Original Score: 3.5/4 | Dec 19, 2006

Sylvester Stallone's follow-up to his runaway success of 1976 is a little more threadbare in spots than the original, but it still has some conviction and spunk.

| Dec 19, 2006

...can't help but come off as the most needless installment of the bunch...

| Original Score: 2.5/4 | Dec 6, 2006

"Rocky II" represents far more than just a good-looking fight. It's all about trusting in yourself and overcoming fear in striving for greatness.

| Original Score: 4/4 | Sep 1, 2006

A very good sequel even though the result of the climactic Balboa vs. Creed rematch is pretty much a foregone conclusion. This is where the series should have ended.

| Original Score: B+ | Feb 18, 2006

Stallone's performance as a Philadelphia saint in a B movie physique leaves you undecided whether to gag or sob, but the final fight sequences make up for it; a full-blooded Hollywood finale reaching giddy heights of cathartic glee.

| Feb 9, 2006