Finally saw Rocky Balboa last night and was totally surprised how great it was. Yes, it had it's flaws like all the other movies, but I loved how it was geared more towards Rocky the man instead of Rocky the fighter. Anyway, the music (which was the same as the original movies) really got me nostalgic about the whole series. Here are my rankings: III - Had everything. Internal struggle, the death of Mickey, the great scene between Rocky and Adrian on the beach, Eye of the Tiger, Hulk Hogan, and of course...... Mr. T. I - The one that started it all. Great character study. Stallone's best acting. II - Great sequel. almost as good as the first. VI - Saw it last night, great way to bring the whole saga to an end. IV - Had it's moments, but not very good V - HORRIBLE and totally unwatchable
Rocky movies were all about entertainment -- and like you said III had it all. It was fun to watch from begining to end.
1 was slow and he Spoiler lost 2 had a great buildup and he Spoiler won at the end. 3 was fun but it sucked when Spoiler Mick died. 4 was also fun, but it sucked when Spoiler Apollo died. 5 all in all Spoiler sucked 6 was well made and was good good way to close it off. Especially when Spoiler got ya!!! I voted for 2
I don't see how anyone could vote for any other than the original. It's a classic...not just for sports movies, but of all time. 2 & 3 were good. 4 was bad and 5 was just plain awful. I still haven't seen the last one. I hope to watch it soon. I've heard it wasn't too bad.
I liked every Rocky movie ( except for five, but it wasn't too bad), but there is something really authentic about the original film. Just getting it made was a Rocky like story for Balboa. It didn't have the various locations and over-the-top acting by Mr. T, Hogan, Lundgren, etc. It was just a great film, not for the sports genre, but just a really good movie, much more subtle than the others.
Have you seen the last one yet? To me, it was more like the first one than any of the others, which is why I liked it.
I did see it. It was a lot like the first one, but it seemed to go by really quickly for some reason. I guess I expected it to be like 2-5. I did like the simplicity of it. I also liked that minor character they brought back. Later on when I got home I went to IMDb to see if it was the original actor, and it was. Spoiler Spider Rico
The first one is clearly the best. It was about the characters, not the fight. And even the fight wasn't about the fight. It was about going the distance. Rocky doesn't even win at the end, but we don't care because he went the full 15 rounds and got the girl. It shouldn't have won Best Picture though. I understand why it did considering it was a great crowdpleaser released at just the right time in a post-Vietnam and Watergate America. But it beat out Network, All the President's Men, and Taxi Driver for God's sake! As far as the rest of them: II - You know, I'm not even sure I've seen this entire film beginning to end. I've seen at least 75% of it though, so I feel confident in saying it's a good sequel, but nowhere near on par with the first one. Honestly, the only reason it was made(besides money) was so Rocky could beat Apollo this time around. III - Probably the 2nd best film in the series. Unlike most of the sequels, it actually was about something. The "eye of the tiger". Rocky has everything he ever wanted. A loving family, money, fame, glory. And in one night, he loses Mickey and the title. Having Apollo return to train him and help him recapture his desire and hunger to be the best was a brilliant move. Plus, it's got Rocky facing off against Mr. T AND Hulk Hogan. IV - A 2-hour music video, but a fun one at least. It has arguably the best training montage in the series. Killing off Apollo was unforgivable(as was giving it away in all the trailers and TV spots), but you've gotta admit it does add a lot of tension and emotion to Rocky's fight against Drago. V - So bad that even Stallone hates it. Committed the cardinal sin made by a lot of sequels of undoing everything good that happened at the end of the previous film(Alien 3 is the most infamous example of this). Rocky IV had its share of problems, but at least it had a great ending(except for the dumb speech). So what does Part V do? Give Rocky brain damage so he can barely form complete sentences, take away all his money thanks to a sleazy accountant we never even see, and age his son by about 5 years literally overnight. The biggest sin committed by this film is that it had no real story to tell. They wanted to return Rocky to his roots and create a bookend to the series, but all they did was make us forget why we fell in love with the character in the first place. Balboa(VI) - The real bookend to the series. It seemed like a desperate attempt to revitalize a sagging career when Stallone announced he was making a 6th Rocky film, but I'm glad he did it. It's not a great film, maybe not even a really good one. But it's a fitting coda that the character of Rocky Balboa so desperately deserved after the debacle of Part V. In fact, this movie wisely ignores most of the events of the 5th film. Aside from Rocky losing his money and moving back to Philly, it's as if the last movie didn't even happen. Stallone does his best acting in the series since the first one. The absence of Adrian was a shrewd decision that actually gave a lot of depth to Rocky. His relationship with his son Robert is handled a lot better this time around(although the dude from Heroes playing Rocky Jr. wasn't very good). And best of all, the fight was handled in a much more realistic manner than the ridiculous over-the-top(no pun intended) matches in III and IV. I guess if I had to rank them in order, they'd go: I III Balboa(VI) II IV V
I watched the trailer recently on DVD and couldn't believe they gave away Apollo's death in it. Ridiculous! I guess I didn't see the trailer before I saw it in the theatre because I wasn't expecting it going in. Spoiler If you watch the bonus features on DVD you'll see that it was a REAL fight - they were actually hitting each other the whole time. Tarver actually got hurt during the making of the movie (messed up his hand or something, can't remember).
"I must break you" I dont remember if Mr.T ever said, I pity the fool, in Rocky 3. If he did, then I would give the slight edge to Rocky 3 only because of that, otherwise it goes to Rocky 4.
