{"id":24808,"date":"2020-11-28T13:53:57","date_gmt":"2020-11-28T17:53:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/craigzablo.com\/?p=24808"},"modified":"2020-11-28T13:53:57","modified_gmt":"2020-11-28T17:53:57","slug":"ranking-thoughts-on-all-8-rocky-movies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/craigzablo.com\/?p=24808","title":{"rendered":"Ranking & Thoughts on All 8 “Rocky” Movies!"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/p>\n

Evan Saathoff at \/Film<\/a> ranked all of the Rocky\/Creed movies in his post Butkus to Punchy: Ranking All 8 \u2018Rocky\u2019 Movies from Worst to Best<\/a>.\u00a0 Here is a comparison of his order with my rankings and thoughts about each.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
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Saathoff <\/b><\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

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Zablo<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

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8. Rocky IV<\/em><\/strong>: <\/span>\u201c…<\/i><\/span><\/span><\/span>is silly fun, a skeleton of a film held together through a series of montages. Candy is cool,<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/strong> b<\/span><\/span><\/span>ut<\/span><\/span><\/span> you shouldn\u2019t make a meal of it.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

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8. Rocky V<\/strong>: I totally agree that binging Rocky back to the street level was a good idea.\u00a0 Fans hated Rocky has to lose everything to get him there, so it was a tough needle to thread.\u00a0 I also think that Sly’s Rocky mannerisms go to over the top in spots.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

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7. Rocky V<\/em><\/strong>: <\/span>\u201c…<\/span><\/span>Bringing Rocky back to the street level is a good decision, though much of the film feels like a superfluous dry run for both\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span>Rocky Balboa\u00a0<\/i><\/span><\/span><\/span>and\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span>Creed<\/i><\/span><\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span>(if you love those films,\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span>Rocky V<\/i><\/span><\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span>is kind of a necessary beast).\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

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7. Rocky IV<\/strong><\/em>: \u00a0is very much a product of the 80s with the music and montages.\u00a0 I’ve grown to appreciate Rocky IV even more because it sets up the return of Drago in Creed II and we get to see the results of Rocky’s win in IV from Drago’s perspective.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

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6. Creed II<\/em>: <\/strong><\/span> \u201c<\/span><\/span>\u00a0…<\/span><\/span><\/span>the film runs through a mild remake of\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span>Rocky II<\/i><\/span><\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span>and leads to a good training montage.”<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

6. Rocky II<\/strong><\/em>:\u00a0 Rocky II<\/i><\/span><\/span> is a worthy follow-up to Rocky.\u00a0 Sly in the director’s chair!<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
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5. Rocky II<\/strong><\/em>: <\/span>\u201c…<\/span><\/span>Rocky II<\/i><\/span><\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span>is special for other reasons. It\u2019s the last bit of \u201chuman\u201d Rocky Balboa we\u2019ll see for a while.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span> \u201c<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

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5. Creed II<\/strong><\/em>:\u00a0 Some fans were upset that an altercation between Rocky and Drago that was filmed didn’t make the final cut of the movie.\u00a0 I may be in the minority, but I don’t think the scene was needed.<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

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4. Rocky III<\/strong><\/em>: \u201c…He\u2019s transformed from a street-level thug to full-on Stallone megastardom. He\u2019s still Rocky, but you have to use your imagination.
\n<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/span>That would be fatal if not for Mr. T\u2019s incredible Clubber Lang, the most underrated character in the series.\u201d<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

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4. Creed:\u00a0 <\/strong><\/em>Saathoff’s summary of Creed<\/em> is perfectly stated.\u00a0 I couldn’t agree more.<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

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3. Rocky Balboa<\/strong><\/em>: <\/span>\u201c…<\/span><\/span>In 2006, the idea of making an old man Rocky movie was a joke. Yet here comes Stallone, visibly aged and hurting from a long string of flops, delivering the second best film to wear the Rocky title.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

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3. Rocky Balboa\u00a0 Never under-estimate or doubt Sly Sallone.\u00a0 Despite all odds, Sly brought back Rocky and showed that there was more to his story!<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

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2. Creed<\/strong><\/em>: <\/span>\u201c…<\/span><\/span>the greatest thing happened: a creative handoff to a young and hungry talent capable of seeing the character through new eyes. Ryan Coogler managed the impossible with 2015\u2019s\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span>Creed<\/i><\/span><\/span><\/span>, which simultaneously started a new franchise while offering a deeply respectful seventh entry to Stallone\u2019s.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span>Creed\u00a0<\/i><\/span><\/span><\/span>is very much a sequel to\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span>Rocky Balboa<\/i><\/span><\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span>and yet yields Balboa to a main character who seems his opposite: cocky, smart and brash.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

2. Rocky III\u00a0 \u00a0Rocky is transformed from a street-level, journeyman fighter into a world champion celebrity and I loved it!<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
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1. Rocky<\/strong><\/em>: <\/span>\u201c…<\/span><\/span>No number of decades or sequels can dull the feeling of triumph\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span>Rocky<\/i><\/span><\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span>delivers in its final moments. It\u2019s one of those rare films that make you cry because you\u2019re happy rather than upset.<\/span><\/span><\/span>\u201c<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

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1. Rocky\u00a0 <\/strong><\/em>I’m simply going to go with Saathoff’s quote:\u00a0 “No number of decades or sequels can dull the feeling of triumph <\/span><\/span><\/strong>Rocky <\/span><\/span><\/em>delivers.”<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Evan Saathoff at \/Film ranked all of the Rocky\/Creed movies in his post Butkus to Punchy: Ranking All 8 \u2018Rocky\u2019<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":912,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[17,54,65],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-24808","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-celebs","category-movies","category-trivia","comments-off"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/craigzablo.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24808","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/craigzablo.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/craigzablo.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/craigzablo.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/912"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/craigzablo.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=24808"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/craigzablo.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24808\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24809,"href":"https:\/\/craigzablo.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24808\/revisions\/24809"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/craigzablo.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=24808"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/craigzablo.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=24808"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/craigzablo.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=24808"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}