What a great way to spend a rainy day, at the movies with a bucket of popcorn, watching the 18th sequel to Rocky. Sly Stone has to be about ninety-five years old now, but he can still put together a damn good rockem sockem flick. Too bad he couldn’t do the same for his plastic surgery and hair implants.

Not to bash Stalone completely, Creed II is a good movie. It’s more than a boxing slugfest with hardly any flashbacks like in previous Rocky movies. Rocky Balboa has moved on and so have his stories – it’s all about the son of Apollo Creed now, how he’s risen to the top and what he has to do to stay there.

The movie follows the usual story line with training, fighting, losing, then more training, fighting and winning. That’s not a spoiler, it’s how all the Rocky films go. This one goes a bit deeper into family, both Creed’s and Balboa’s. The old fighter tries to teach the new one how to handle life outside the ring.

Dolph Lungren and even Brigette Neilson make a come back in this flick. Ivan Drago (Lungren) is the Russian boxer who killed Apollo Creed, but was later taken down by Rocky. Drago’s son is the new monster this time around, and they want to make Russia proud again.

Cathryn and I enjoyed the movie and there was one moment where the old Rocky music, the blazing horns, kick in and give you goosebumps. She gives the movie a 10. I give it a 9, only because I think Stalone and Lungren should be sparing in a seniors home.