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. Stallone’s direction is both broader and more generous than John Avildsen’s handling of part one; he gives his characters some room to breathe—though apart from the bravura finish, there’s little of the charming excess that informed his Paradise Alley. With Talia Shire, Burt Young, Carl Weathers, and Burgess Meredith.
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