I'm not sure if this has been done before on our site...but I figured I'd try it. I know there are at least some posters here who love this franchise.
I thought of putting this in the Carl Weathers tribute thread...but this is technically a different topic.
I'd really be curious how some of our posters rank these films. (Kristy will, I'm sure, have a very colorful response to the concept of ranking films which are full of "homo-erotic masculinity and ridiculous bromances."
Carl Weathers' death was really unexpected and actually really upset me; that guy was so awesome in basically everything he was in. I need to dig out our ACTION JACKSON Blu-Ray...we own the film but I haven't watched it in 30 years. Since he died, I've been digging out the ROCKY movies and watching most of 'em, not even necessarily going in order.
SO...here is my order, from BEST to WORST. A lot of these lists go from WORST TO BEST, but I decided to go BEST to WORST just because I fucking feel like it. Also, I did not include the third CREED movie. Honestly, I have NOT seen it yet and have not been able to bring myself to see it, mostly because I do not want to watch a ROCKY movie in the ROCKY franchise without fucking ROCKY himself!!!
BEST to WORST:
1. ROCKY (1976): I used to put ROCKY II here, but after re-watching the first film a few more times in recent years, I have to admit that (without a doubt), this is the best.
2. ROCKY II (1979): The first ROCKY film I ever saw (the network showing when I was maybe 7 around 1983). Has the absolute best fight in the series and brings back virtually everybody.
3. ROCKY III (1982): Probably the first in the series that is less actual drama & more comic book. But Mr. T. is awesome and the friendship between Rocky & Apollo is cemented. (Carl Weathers' favorite Rocky film.)
4. ROCKY BALBOA (2006): Paulie (maybe my favorite character in the franchise) is great in this. Of all the sequels, this feels most like the first two.
5. ROCKY IV (1985): An insanely silly ROCKY film. But it's admittedly a lot of fun. I was looking forward to seeing the 2021 re-cut, but it really didn't improve the film that much (almost nothing new in it).
6. CREED (2015): I like it, but I don't like it as much as some people do. I just don't find Adonis as interesting or likeable a character. Stallone is great in it, though.
7. CREED II (2018): Nice to see Drago back. The ending with Drago & his son is actually pretty touching. But I found it diminishing returns.
8. ROCKY V (1990): An abomination. A horrible film. Nobody wanted to see Rocky lose all his money. And the whole idea, after the fight in Russia...it's just SO badly-written. What were they thinking??
Maybe I'll see CREED III at some point. But I don't have much interest. If Sly is not going to be in them anymore, I don't find the Adonis character strong enough to carry the franchise.
Stallone has a script for another ROCKY film, with Rocky taking another young fighter under his wing. But with Stallone's fight over the rights to the character (with producer Irwin Winkler), it just doesn't seem likely that this film will ever see the light of day.
I thought of putting this in the Carl Weathers tribute thread...but this is technically a different topic.
I'd really be curious how some of our posters rank these films. (Kristy will, I'm sure, have a very colorful response to the concept of ranking films which are full of "homo-erotic masculinity and ridiculous bromances."
Carl Weathers' death was really unexpected and actually really upset me; that guy was so awesome in basically everything he was in. I need to dig out our ACTION JACKSON Blu-Ray...we own the film but I haven't watched it in 30 years. Since he died, I've been digging out the ROCKY movies and watching most of 'em, not even necessarily going in order.
SO...here is my order, from BEST to WORST. A lot of these lists go from WORST TO BEST, but I decided to go BEST to WORST just because I fucking feel like it. Also, I did not include the third CREED movie. Honestly, I have NOT seen it yet and have not been able to bring myself to see it, mostly because I do not want to watch a ROCKY movie in the ROCKY franchise without fucking ROCKY himself!!!
BEST to WORST:
1. ROCKY (1976): I used to put ROCKY II here, but after re-watching the first film a few more times in recent years, I have to admit that (without a doubt), this is the best.
2. ROCKY II (1979): The first ROCKY film I ever saw (the network showing when I was maybe 7 around 1983). Has the absolute best fight in the series and brings back virtually everybody.
3. ROCKY III (1982): Probably the first in the series that is less actual drama & more comic book. But Mr. T. is awesome and the friendship between Rocky & Apollo is cemented. (Carl Weathers' favorite Rocky film.)
4. ROCKY BALBOA (2006): Paulie (maybe my favorite character in the franchise) is great in this. Of all the sequels, this feels most like the first two.
5. ROCKY IV (1985): An insanely silly ROCKY film. But it's admittedly a lot of fun. I was looking forward to seeing the 2021 re-cut, but it really didn't improve the film that much (almost nothing new in it).
6. CREED (2015): I like it, but I don't like it as much as some people do. I just don't find Adonis as interesting or likeable a character. Stallone is great in it, though.
7. CREED II (2018): Nice to see Drago back. The ending with Drago & his son is actually pretty touching. But I found it diminishing returns.
8. ROCKY V (1990): An abomination. A horrible film. Nobody wanted to see Rocky lose all his money. And the whole idea, after the fight in Russia...it's just SO badly-written. What were they thinking??
Maybe I'll see CREED III at some point. But I don't have much interest. If Sly is not going to be in them anymore, I don't find the Adonis character strong enough to carry the franchise.
Stallone has a script for another ROCKY film, with Rocky taking another young fighter under his wing. But with Stallone's fight over the rights to the character (with producer Irwin Winkler), it just doesn't seem likely that this film will ever see the light of day.
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