Favorite Rocky Movie

I
VI (Rocky Balboa)
III
IV
II
V

 

I did enjoy Rocky 4.

But yeah III is my favor.

Still dont understand the smack 4 gets. Drago was amazing.

 

1, 4, 3, 2, 6, 5.

 

Rocky is an all time movie classic.
2-5 were nothing more than science fiction IMO.
I would have liked 2-5 to have never been made and
have had Balboa released when it was which, I thought, was
a good tribute/closure to the original (other than the actor who portrayed his son.)

 

The original is in a world of its own in terms of evoking emotion and acting. The second best one was Rocky Balboa.

 

Rocky I: The original. Classic. Great character development that makes you really root for Balboa. Much more realistic than the other movies.

Rocky III: Like the idea of the champion getting soft and having to find his hunger again. Great cast. Clubber Lang was a great nemesis opposite of Apollo Creed's character from the first two. Like the fact that they focused on how hungry and dedicated Clubber was even throughout his early ****-talking. Ending with Rocky and Apollo is classic.

Rocky VI: A return to the original. Amazing job with storytelling and character development (only 2nd to the original in this respect). Was a movie about a boxer rather than a "boxing movie" (like the 3rd and 4th films). Terrific closure to the series.

Rocky II: This would have been rated much, much higher if it wasn't for the unbelievable ending IMO. Whereas in the original, Apollo took the match lightly and Rocky was the determined one training hard; this movie shows Apollo as the fighter with something to prove. Apollo is training harder than ever while Rocky is willing to call off the fight (had to miss valuable training time). Then at the end, all Apollo had to do was get up to win the fight, but the directors made it seem like he had no heart (by having him sooo close and even initially beating Rocky to his feet, only to fall back down to the ground as Rocky climbed back up). The ending just seemed too Hollywood for me.

Rocky IV: Umm...sense when did Rocky become a superhero? Typical cheesy 80's action movie. USA vs USSR. Then Rocky brings to people together as he wins over the Soviets. The fight was the most unbelievable and unrealistic in the entire series. This was the only movie that completly went astray from what the original concept of the films were supposed to be.

Rocky V: Simply a good idea with horrible execution. Like the fact that they choose to focus on the aftermath in many boxer's careers: brain/physical damage, losing money, IRS problems, etc. However, thats the only positive thing I can say about this film.

 

This is my order too. Although Rocky I had a great ending, the ending in Rocky III was as good as it gets. Creed got his re-match in the gym with no media there. Who got the better of it? Unkown!

 

III
I
IV
II
Balboa
V

 

Couldn't have been worse than anything with Tarver

Maybe Drago's son tho considering the time elapsed lol

 

Nice thread Magoo.

Like everyone here, I too love the Rocky series.

Rocky 1 is my favorite. The underdog that gets a million to one shot and scores big. They made it feasible by Creed coming in slightly out of shape and overconfident, and watching the interactions between Paulie, Rocky and Adrian is pure magic. Mickey is a gem, an absolute gem.


Rocky Balboa is probably next on my list. So much closer to the original than the others, I like the way old Rocky has to deal with losing Adrian, getting older, and yet still feeling that fire in his belly. Stallone played this closer to Rocky's character (the perennial underdog) than his other films, imo.
For once, there is no big, bad enemy to beat, and ultimately it's Rocky v Rocky here. The series closed out perfectly for me as well. In IV, Paulie says to Rocky "You're all heart Rock" and that's how I felt as VI unfolded. I think this show ended the way most fans would have wanted it to end. To me, this was a perfect send-off to one of the most endearing and enduring characters in cinematic history.


III is up next. Here we see Rocky as the confident, successful and very rich champion with the world at his feet. It was good to see his success, after so many years of hard living. I thought the fight between he and Thunderlips was handled well, and the Clubber Lang character was played very well by Mr. T - a mean, hard, surly ******* who looked the part. I remember when Rocky lost, my sister (who was maybe 6 or 7 at the time) cried her eyes out. She was inconsolable.
I liked the sub-plot where Paulie's jealousy of Rocky's success starts to boil over and of course Mickey dying was a very touching scene.
Apollo getting Rocky's mind and body back into perfect shape was quite inspirational, if highly unrealistic.
On the other hand, one could say he was living vicariously through Rocky at that point, just as Rocky would later do with Tommy Gunn.
On a side note, I liked that scene between he and Adrian on the beach, where he finally confesses that he's afraid, and that he doesn't know how to deal with that, and how Adrian pulls him out of his mental rut.

The result of the rematch between Rocky and Clubber was all to predictable, but fun to watch nonetheless.


II runs III close for 3rd spot for me. Rocky is living it up, enjoying the purse from the Creed fight. Like many boxers though, he lives a little to freely and easily without thinking of tomorrow, and as we see later, he needs to fight again in order to maintain his lifestyle. He soon realises that he is a fighter, that's what he does. That's what he is.
One the other hand, Apollo is outraged by the abuse he's getting from the public for 'carrying that bum' and it starts to eat away at him. He cannot rest until he gets Rocky back into the ring and shows the world the 'real' Apollo Creed.

There are one or two scriptic gems.

"I want to make a living sitting down, like you do."

"Rock, ever think of investing in condiminiums?"
"Um...I don't use em."


I enjoyed Rocky IV, despite it being utterly ludicrous at times. I didn't see why it was scripted that Apollo had to die, that went too far. Couldn't Drago just have busted him up badly or something? Like Magoo said, it left a bitter taste in the mouth.
In any event, one or two have complained that Drago said no more than five words during the whole movie.

Drago was this big, hulking, alien creature from the Red Enemy. He was the genetic superman who could not lose, who used advanced training and steroids and was a propaganda tool for the Russian government. His lack of emotion and speech is to show how different he is, how different the two cultures are. He is purposely made out to be robotic; a weapon for the USSR.
This is in direct contrast to the modest and affable Rocky, the people's champ. The man Joe Public could relate to, because at heart, he is one of them. At the end of the day, isn't this film all about contrasts?

Although the fight (and the circumstances in which it takes place) is a bit silly, I enjoyed the contrast between the training methods the two men employed, sort of an old school v new school scenario.


V is last on my list, and the one Rocky which I never bothered to purchase. I may do so down the line just to complete the set, but I'm in no hurry.

 

I totally agree with you.