Well two out of three isn’t terrible. It’s just a matter of time until we get this legacy sequel.
Over the Top 2
We open on a funeral. There is a huge intricate grave. The name on the grave is ‘Jason Cutler’ (Robert Loggia’s character from the first one). Michael Cutler-Hawk the kid is now grown. He is wearing a very expensive black suit. We see a disheveled figure standing under a tree in the background. He is covered in shadow. He takes a huge gulp of a glass of vodka and loses his grip. The glass shatters on a rock and everyone looks over at him and whisper. The figure slowly walks away.
Michael looks furious. He excuses himself and follows the figure. He tries to get the figures attention and finally yells, “Dad, stop!” Lincoln Hawk (Sylvester Stallone) turns around.
He looks terrible.
Lincoln: “You should never have come.”
“I had to see for myself that the son of a bitch is dead. He ruined my life… my business… turned you against me.”
Michael: “You really believe that don’t you…”
Lincoln: “He took evening from me.”
Michael: “Dad, you fucked your own life up.”
Lincoln: “We were doing great, I had my trucking company, I was raising you right, but he had his claws in you the whole time. He took you and bought the company I created with my own hands…”
He looks down at his right hand and we flash to Hawk winning the arm wresting championship for half a second.
Michael: “You blew through that prize money. You were completely incapable of running a business. Did you know my grandfather bought it to save you? It wasn’t worth anything, you had debt more that three times what you would have gotten by liquidating everything. He wanted for you to think you had actually created something. You didn’t, you squandered everything. He wanted to give you enough cash so that you could hold your head up high. What did you do? You kept the damn truck. You couldn’t even afford to gas it up, but you needed the truck. I wanted to stay with you but you started drinking to much. Somethings never change.”
Lincoln: “son.”
Michael walks away.
There is a montage of Michael going to work at a hedge fund and Lincoln going on a bender. Lincoln ends up in a backroom of a shady club. Michael gets off work and the other traders take him to a expensive club. They go into a back room. It is filled with white collar types playing poker and betting on horse racing on an expensive TV. A roided out finance bro taps Michael on the shoulder and says, “rematch?” Back to Lincoln. The backroom also has betting going on but for bare knuckle fighting. Lincoln sits down. A big guy sits opposite and they start to arm wrestle. Michael also sits down and starts to arm wrestle. We cut back and forth. They are both about to lose but we see them both dig deep. At the exact same time, in a burst Michael beats his opponent, but as Lincoln bursts, his wrist snaps.
Michael’s friends congratulate him and then try to convince him to sign up for an arm wrestling tournament. Michael is not interested but finally comes around when they all say how they are going to make money betting on him and will give me a cut.
It’s a qualifying tournament. Michael easily beats his first two opponents but loses to his last. He looks dejected but he still ends up qualifying. Lincoln, who was watching the whole time goes up to congratulate him.
Lincoln: “You did good kid, you have potential.”
Michael: “How did you know I was here? What happened to your arm.”
Lincoln’s arm is in a cast
Lincoln: “Don’t worry about it. And I still have some friends in this sport. I could give you some pointers.”
Michael: “Do you really think you can be a part of my life.”
Lincoln: “You have a gift, I can help you.”
Michael: “You think I’m proud of this? I despise it. I reminds me that you are my father.”
Lincoln: “I’ve been doing a lot of thinking, something I’m not good at. I now understand that you are right. I was a bad business man. I was a bad husband. I was a bad father. Arm wrestling is the only this I’ve ever been good at and now I don’t even have that. You are better than me in every way except one, let me be useful.”
….
Michael: “Will you stop drinking?”
Lincoln: “Yes.”
It’s the training section of the film. Michael gets better as Lincoln goes cold turkey.
As you would imagine, when he gets to the tournament, Michael beats all the early competition. We get to the championship round.
Michael is about to lose but Lincoln yells “Over the Top!” and Michael does and wins.
The End