Quote Originally Posted by Peelee View Post
Except he never cared about winning? He flat-out rejected the offer at first. He only took it up to go the distance. He had a speech the night before the fight about how he explicitly didn't care at all about winning, he just wanted to go the fifteen rounds.

Rocky I: "I don't care about winning, I don't want a rematch."
Rocky II: "lol jk gotta win!"
I think there's a big difference between knowing that it doesn't matter if he wins or loses and not expecting to win. He knows what he is trying to prove to himself (and secondarily beyond himself) and he works for that goal because he believes it is possible. No one, including Rocky himself, believe any more than that is attainable. After the horrible grueling fight of course they'd both 100% not want a rematch, not want to do that horrible thing again. Heck, he even "retires" from boxing. He learned, though, that he could go the distance and had a real shot at winning...so when Apollo chases him down in RII and all the other avenues for supporting his new family have dried up, Rocky agrees to the rematch. Fast forward past the "coma leads to family inspiration" sequence and we get the fight where Rocky is primarily concerned about staying safe (protecting his vision), but also knows that he could win. Apollo more loses the bout than Rocky wins, but it works out the same in the end.

So it isn't so much "gotta win" as "can win". It is a story about progression and perseverance (and all the grit and power of self stuff and all that again), showing that you can build on yourself and your previous success. I am really "defending" it because I think it is one of the best true sequels out there (as compared to movies like the Rambo films that are just more of the same). To me Rocky and Rocky II are really a single story told in two parts. Part 1 is "I'm not just a bum from the streets, I belong!" and part 2 is "Now let's see how good I can be."

All of that aside, I do hope Dark Fate is a sequel to T2, and not another rebooty, expansion, messagey pile of busted up robot parts.

- M