All Rocky & Creed Movies Ranked After Creed III

All Rocky & Creed Movies Ranked After Creed III

It’s incredible how well the  Rocky  movies have aged over the years. After nearly five decades, Rocky Balboa’s story inspires and entertains despite hundreds of knockoffs and parodies. The franchise has retained its popularity with  Creed III now available in theaters. As such, we’re diving into the  Rocky  saga to determine which boxing epic is the best by ranking the best Rocky and Creed movies. 9. Rocky V (1990) Rocky IV  felt like a fitting end to the Rocky Balboa story — how do you top Rocky single-handedly ending the Cold War? — but Stallone decided to take another crack...

It’s incredible how well the  Rocky  movies have aged over the years. After nearly five decades, Rocky Balboa’s story inspires and entertains despite hundreds of knockoffs and parodies. The franchise has retained its popularity with  Creed III now available in theaters. As such, we’re diving into the  Rocky  saga to determine which boxing epic is the best by ranking the best Rocky and Creed movies. 9. Rocky V (1990) Rocky IV  felt like a fitting end to the Rocky Balboa story — how do you top Rocky single-handedly ending the Cold War? — but Stallone decided to take another crack at our slow-witted hero and gifted audiences …  Rocky V . Awkward silence. You gotta hand it to Stallone. The man takes serious chances with his beloved characters and isn’t afraid to mix things up now and again. In this case, he decides to take Rocky back to his street-level roots, resulting in a well-intentioned but disappointing chapter that sees the iconic boxer — now poor and severely brain-damaged — taking on Tommy Gun, a former student-turned-psychopath. Sounds compelling, right? Unfortunately,  Rocky V  limps along without much juice. While the pic dutifully sets up the next batch of films (intentional or not), it lacks the human element that made the original  Rocky  a classic and dumps the commercial swagger that turned  Rocky IV  into one of the great pics of the 1980s. It’s undoubtedly a fascinating exercise and worth a watch. Still, at this point, it was clear that Rocky needed to retire. 8. Rocky II (1979) After  Rocky’s  astounding success, a sequel was all but inevitable; credit to everyone involved for defying the odds and crafting a follow-up that was, at the very least, passable entertainment. However, this by-the-numbers entry feels like a cynical cash grab, even if it still finds exciting ways to challenge its likable characters. Rocky struggles with his newfound fame and fortune. Eventually, he loses all his money, necessitating another boxing match with Creed — who, by contrast, grapples with his failure in the ring. When the two men meet for a rematch, we understand their motivations, leading to a surprisingly effective (and moving) conclusion. Unfortunately, despite some high points,  Rocky II  only partially justifies its existence. Put bluntly,   this movie   didn’t need to happen. Rocky Balboa was an everyman who took advantage of a fantastic opportunity. Once he goes toe-to-toe with the champ and wins the girl, his story is complete. Stallone knows this and uses  Rocky II  to perform a soft reboot of the franchise, repositioning his downtrodden fighter as a comic book hero capable of defeating anyone. The transition may not be the smoothest, but  Rocky II  sets our boy up for long-term success — for better or worse. 7. Rocky Balboa (2006) I was initially disappointed by  Rocky Balboa  and its grounded approach to the material. However, after multiple viewings, I think it is a solid entry in the long-running franchise, even if it lacks the pizazz that made the original foursome so much fun. This sixth chapter finds Rocky spending his days operating a humble Italian restaurant where he regales customers with stories about his past. Adrian is dead, you see? And so Rocky has no one but Paulie and his deadbeat son, Robert Balboa, Jr. When fate comes calling, Rocky seizes the opportunity to step into the ring again, this time in an exhibition match against a young punk named Mason “The Line” Dixon. Rocky Balboa  lacks dramatic tension and feels more like fan service than a necessary sequel. Still, following  Rocky V , at least the film gives the guy a proper send-off until  Creed  summoned him back from the dead a decade later. The bout between Rocky and Mason is fun but also a tad anticlimactic, particularly for those expecting the hard-hitting spectacle of  Rocky I-IV . No matter,  Rocky B...