"Rocky Balboa" (Sylvester Stallone, who also wrote and directed the movie), the Professional Boxing World Heavyweight Champion, is living the life he sought. He lives in a huge house with his family, has been on the cover of various...
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"Rocky Balboa" (Sylvester Stallone, who also wrote and directed the movie), the Professional Boxing World Heavyweight Champion, is living the life he sought. He lives in a huge house with his family, has been on the cover of various magazines and has numerous endorsment deals. However, unknown to him, he has gotten soft inside the ring to the point where his manager, "Mickey" (Burgess Meredith) booked him in bouts with inferior fighters. Even getting in the ring with the cocky professional wrestling star, "Thunderlips" (Hulk Hogan in his acting debut).

He lost his edge, and "Mickey" knew it. However, the champ wouldn't believe it. He even went against "Mickey's" orders, and accepted the challenge of "Clubber Lang" (Mr. T in one of his most famous roles), a tough, bad attitude boxer who rapidly reached the Number One Contendership by himself with no trainer helping him out.

"Mickey" warned "Balboa" not to accept "Lang's challenge, but the mohawked fighter verbally went after the champ's wife (Talia Shire) at a public appearance. He immediately accepted the challenge. However, "Mickey" was proven right, and "Balboa" lost the title to "Lang." And, to make things worse, "Mickey" suffers a heart attack backstage during a confrontation between "Balboa" and "Lang", and dies in the dressing room as "Lang" easily defeats the champion for the title.

Now, "Balboa" has to regain what he once had. And he gets help from an old rival (Carl Weathers). A rival who once saw the "Eye of the Tiger" when he fought "The Italian Stallion" himself for the title.

This is one slow moving movie, especially about half-way through the film. I saw myself looking at websites around that time more than watching the film on On Demand. It does pick up leading up to the rematch between the two boxing rivals around the time "Apollo Creed" shows up.

The acting is near perfect all around. You knew almost immediately when "Balboa" admits that he lost his edge, by Stallone's performance in the scene, that the death of "Mickey" affected him deeply. Certain cast members were performing characters who were more important in the previous two movies. I felt that they were there because they somewhat advanced the storyline, or were just there because they have been part of the series since the first movie in the franchise.

I liked the chemistry between Stallone and Weathers in this film. In previous films, they were rivals, and now they are on the same side. They acted like two professionals in one of the toughest sports on the planet, one now acting more like a teacher more than a rival who was still annoyed at once losing the title to his now-student. Weathers really shined in this role, making the audience forget how arrogant he was six years before in the first movie.

Another breakout performance was that of Mr. T. Surprisingly, as "Balboa" is getting back his edge, "Lang" is almost forgotten. The film focuses more on "Balboa" training for the rematch more than "Lang" living the life of the defending champion. You almost completely forget he was in the movie until he comes back into the story for the rematch. Personally, I would have liked to have seen some references to "Lang" as "Balboa" is in training. This was the role that gave Mr. T his tough guy image. He was the bad guy you wanted to see destroyed.

This film is predictable. You know who will win at the end. Personally, I would have liked to have seen some plot twists that would have made the end a little less preditable.

Another problem with this film is the soundtrack. I can only remember two songs in the film -- the "Rocky Theme" piece that is so recognizable now you know immediately where it came from, and "Eye of the Tiger" by the one-hit-wonder (this song) Survivor.

Another problem with this film is, at times, it is hard to understand Stallone's speaking. At times, I had to rely on what others in the scene were saying in response to understand what was going on.

Unless you already own the other movies, I say get this film on VHS/DVD to complete the series. I also think that this would be a pretty good third choice to rent.

A very great third film of the series. I really loved Mr. T as Clubber Lang because he made such an awesome opponent. I also like how in this film Rocky and Apollo Creed become friends. There is also a pretty good scene with Hulk Hogan as...
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A very great third film of the series. I really loved Mr. T as Clubber Lang because he made such an awesome opponent. I also like how in this film Rocky and Apollo Creed become friends. There is also a pretty good scene with Hulk Hogan as Thunder Lips who has a promotional match with Rocky for charity at the beginning of the film. A can't miss movie for fans of the Rocky series.

It is one of the Best and one of the biggest movie series ever! I like it very much! And I will watch all the series again and again and will give them to my children and etc!
the movie is awesome!

I really enjoy watching Rocky 3. It was nice to see that Apollo Creed and Rocky become friends in this movie after a sad death of Micky. Mr. T play a really good villian here. I really like the Hulk Hogan scence in this movie. It had a good story....
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I really enjoy watching Rocky 3. It was nice to see that Apollo Creed and Rocky become friends in this movie after a sad death of Micky. Mr. T play a really good villian here. I really like the Hulk Hogan scence in this movie. It had a good story. and a great boxing match action. I really enjoy The Eye of the tiger music also. I give this movie 4 1/2 stars.

very sad. mr t scared me. i love sly hes sexxi in here

This one is great, the fights are great, but it is also very sad...

This part of the Rocky series gave me mixed feelings. I loved the part with Apollo training Rocky to fight better, but I hated the part where Rocky's trianer died. I also didn't care for Clubber, but the movie needed a villan, and he works. So I...
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This part of the Rocky series gave me mixed feelings. I loved the part with Apollo training Rocky to fight better, but I hated the part where Rocky's trianer died. I also didn't care for Clubber, but the movie needed a villan, and he works. So I liked it but not as much as part 2 or part 4.

One of the best, it`s not better than the original "Rocky", and doesn`t delivers as mutch as the fantastic "Rocky 2".

The story is verry good, Mickey dies and Rocky is broken, and can`t continue fighting. And one...
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One of the best, it`s not better than the original "Rocky", and doesn`t delivers as mutch as the fantastic "Rocky 2".

The story is verry good, Mickey dies and Rocky is broken, and can`t continue fighting. And one of the bad things in this movie is that he recovers so fast, when his wife tells him to stop, it takes a long time to recover, whatever anyone say, i know that.

And it looks like Clubber Lang is worse the second time than the first.

Otherwise, a verry good movie.

Though not as quality of a flick as the previous two, I still enjoyed this movie a lot (see below). I'm not sure I liked the battles against Mr. T. I mean, who cold take him seriously? Any movie having to do with boxing is fantastic because much...
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Though not as quality of a flick as the previous two, I still enjoyed this movie a lot (see below). I'm not sure I liked the battles against Mr. T. I mean, who cold take him seriously? Any movie having to do with boxing is fantastic because much of the story revolves around lives outside of the ring, which is something you don't see in the real world. The moral to this movie is, like that of many other movies, "Never give up and believe in yourself." Overall, great action in the ring and great drama outside the ring.