When it comes to sports film franchises, there is not a
single series out there that is more iconic than the ‘Rocky’ franchise. What
started out as a simple $1 million ‘underdog story’ written by the film’s star,
Sylvester Stallone, soon became one of the most famous films of all-time. At
the 1977 Academy Awards, where it was as much of an underdog as its main
character, ‘Rocky’ ended up winning 3 Oscars, including Best Picture, and would
go on to spawn a highly successful film franchise with many of the sequels directed
by Stallone himself. As a result, the character of Rocky Balboa has become a
beloved icon of the city of Philadelphia and the iconic moment from the first
film in which Rocky ascends the stairs leading to the Philadelphia Museum of
Art has been mimicked on a regular basis by tourists along with them taking
photos of the ‘Rocky’ statue that had once stood at the top of the ‘Rocky
steps’. This past weekend saw the release of the newest installment of the
franchise; one that takes the series in a whole new direction. Directed by Ryan
Coogler (‘Fruitvale Station’), ‘Creed’ focuses on the character of Adonis Johnson
Creed, the son of Rocky’s first major opponent Apollo Creed, as he becomes a
protégé of the ‘Italian Stallion’. But for now, in honor of the new film’s
release, today I’ll be covering all six of the previous ‘Rocky Balboa’ films,
from the original classic ‘Rocky’ to the most recent entry in the series,
2006’s ‘Rocky Balboa’. It’s time to ‘go the distance’ and honor one of the most
famous film franchises of all-time as I look back upon the ‘Rocky’ films. ‘Yo
Adrian!!’
ROCKY (1976)
As the poster described it best, Rocky Balboa’s ‘whole life
was a million-to-one shot’. But when fate came along and Rocky was given the
chance to fight the Heavyweight Champion of the World, Apollo Creed, he stunned
the world by ‘going the distance’ when the odds were completely against him.
Really, what more can be said about this film that hasn’t been said already?
Not only is it one of the best sports films ever made, but it’s also one of the
best films ever period. The true definition of an underdog story, Rocky is a
highly sympathetic character from the start. Sure he spends most of his time
fighting and acting as an enforcer for a loan shark but deep down he’s got a
good heart, which we see come out in spades when he romances the shy pet store
clerk Adrian. Basically this film is two stories in one; Rocky’s fight with
Apollo and his budding romance with Adrian and by the time the actual fight
begins, we’re fully on Rocky’s side as the fight between the two keeps us on
the edge of our seats the entire time. And of course a lot of that comes from
Sylvester Stallone’s excellent performance in the title role, and he’s backed
up by an excellent supporting cast that includes Talia Shire as Adrian, Carl
Weathers as Apollo, Burt Young as Adrian’s brother Paulie, and Burgess Meredith
as Rocky’s hardened trainer Mickey. In a way, the first ‘Rocky’ was as big of
an underdog as its main character but the end result led to the Oscar for Best
Picture, making it a key essential part of film history.
Rating: 5/5!
ROCKY II (1979)
‘Rocky II’ does what any great sequel does. It continues the
story and further develops the characters while doing just enough to maintain a
lot of the same elements that made the first film so great. In this film, Rocky
tries to readjust to normal life after ‘going the distance’ with Apollo. But he
soon comes to find that it’s rather hard to find a job due to his lack of
education. Meanwhile, Apollo begins pressuring Rocky into a rematch and after a
while, despite the disapproval of Adrian, who he just married, Rocky does end
up prepping for the fight. Like the first film, ‘Rocky II’ definitely paints
Rocky as the underdog in the situation while also putting him through what are
arguably some of his absolute lowest of lows, especially when compared to the
first film. An eye injury sustained during the previous fight leaves him at the
risk of going blind and there’s even a point where Rocky pretty much loses his
spirit to fight, especially after Adrian falls into a coma after giving birth
to their son. But of course, everything starts to get better and Rocky regains
his spirit just in time for the rematch with Apollo which, dare I say, is even
more epic than the one in the first film. The advertising wasn’t lying when it
said that this truly was ‘the rematch of the century’. ‘Rocky II’ may not be as
great as the original ‘Rocky’, but it still manages to be a solid follow-up
nevertheless.
Rating: 4/5
(P.S. Can’t go wrong
with probably the best scene of the film in which Rocky chases a chicken: “I
feel like a Kentucky Fried Idiot!”)
ROCKY III (1982)
I think it’s safe to say that ‘Rocky III’ was the point where
the series started to become much more over-the-top in tone compared to its
much more grounded first two installments. While not as crazy as its immediate
predecessor, this film sees Rocky fighting both Hulk Hogan and Mr. T in just
one film. Stallone has even admitted that he sort of ran out of ideas after
‘Rocky II’ so this film ended up being more about the fights than it was about
the story and characters. But even with that in mind, ‘Rocky III’ is still a
very entertaining installment of the franchise. Mr. T as the brash and cocky
Clubber Lang is a highly memorable adversary of Rocky (“I Pity the Fool!”), the
death of Mickey is a genuinely tear-jerking moment, and it’s pretty cool that
this film sees Rocky’s former rival Apollo coming back to help Rocky train for
his rematch with Lang after the first fight ends with Lang defeating Rocky.
Just like the first film, ‘Rocky III’ also introduced a few iconic elements of
this iconic franchise. This was the first film to introduce the Rocky statue
that now sits near the bottom of the steps of the Philadelphia Art Museum after
originally being located at the top of the ‘Rocky Steps’ and briefly relocated
to the Wachovia Spectrum. And then there was the famous theme song ‘Eye of the
Tiger’ by Survivor, a theme that is as equally iconic to the Rocky franchise as
‘Gonna Fly Now’, the main training theme from the first film that returned for
the second, third, and sixth films. Admittedly ‘Rocky III’ doesn’t really have
the same underdog spirit as the first two films, namely due to Rocky becoming a
celebrity in this film after becoming the new Heavyweight Champion of the World,
but it’s yet another highly entertaining entry in this highly entertaining
franchise. Though things would only get even crazier with the next film…
Rating: 4/5
ROCKY IV (1985)
‘Rocky IV’ is both one of the silliest films ever made and
one of the most awesome films ever made. I mean this film is full to the brim
with ridiculously cheesy moments and dialogue. Paulie gets an actual robot for
a birthday present, Apollo enters a fight to a James Brown concert, and the
ending is, no joke, pretty much the equivalent of Rocky single-handedly ending
the Cold War. But even with all of that in mind… this film is just so damn
entertaining that I can forgive it full-heartedly for its sillier moments. It
gives Rocky arguably his most powerful enemy ever in Dolph Lundgren’s Ivan
Drago, a Russian heavyweight whose punch is so strong that when Apollo fights
him in an exhibition bout, it kills him. And the final fight between Drago and
Rocky is pure over-the-top epic-ness. It should also be noted that this film
probably holds the record for most montages in a single film. The film is
probably 75% montages and it’s the shortest of the series at just 90 minutes.
Still, these montages are just as memorable as the rest of the film; the
flashback montage set to ‘There’s No Easy Way Out’, the first Training Montage
in Russia, the second Training Montage in Russia set to ‘Hearts on Fire’, and
the fight montage set to composer Vince DiCola’s track ‘War’. Yes ‘Rocky IV’ is
a pretty stupid film if you really think about it but I don’t care about that whatsoever.
That’s because it’s arguably the most entertaining film in the entire series
and fully embraces its silliness. It’s completely over-the-top and silly and I
love it.
Rating: 3.5/5
(Entertainment Value: 5/5!)
ROCKY V (1990)
Many film franchises have what is regarded as a ‘black
sheep’ AKA the one entry in the series that has the worst reputation with fans
of the franchise. For the ‘Rocky’ franchise, that film is ‘Rocky V’. Sure it
may have saw the return of the first film’s director, John Avildsen, after the
last three films were all directed by Stallone but it’s pretty much universally
regarded as the ‘worst’ film in the series. Even Stallone himself has admitted
that he wasn’t satisfied with the final product, saying that he really only did
it for the money. During an interview with Jonathan Ross, when he was asked to
rate all of the ‘Rocky’ films, he gave ‘Rocky V’ a 0. But is it really as bad
as everyone says it is? Well, while I will concur that it definitely is the
weakest of the series, I still think that there are some good things in this
film. There are some genuinely touching moments peppered throughout, like an very
emotional flashback that Rocky has of a moment with Mickey (“Get up you son of
a bitch, cause Mickey loves ya!”) and scenes in which he’s trying to reconnect
with his son (who in this film is played by Stallone’s real son Sage, even
though this does create a bit of a continuity error given how he older he is
compared to how old the character was in ‘Rocky IV’, the events of which
occurred just a few days before the start of this film). Plus the final fight
scene between Rocky and his former protégé Tommy Gunn is pretty
awesome/over-the-top, namely because it’s the only instance in which Rocky
partakes in a street fight.
But as for this film’s main issues, there are quite a few to
mention. The film can be quite a downer sometimes and even a little
mean-spirited with its apparent ‘pro-fighting’ stance. Now I don’t mind that
the filmmakers tried to bring Rocky back to his roots after the last two films
had him living the celebrity life but it just doesn’t capture the same charm
that the first film had. Tommy Gunn is a pretty terrible foe for Rocky; sure
he’s an intimidating fighter but he ends up being an egotistical jerk that ends
up disrespecting Rocky even though he was the one who helped make him a star in
the first place. Plus the whole plotline of Rocky having to retire due to him
suffering brain damage as a result of all his fights has actually turned out to
be fairly inaccurate. Originally the film was going to end with Rocky’s death
but Stallone ended up changing it because he felt that it wouldn’t have been
the right kind of ending for a series like this, even though the original
ending technically would’ve been more fitting for how the film in general
played out. Would it have been a better ending? We’ll never know but on the
bright side this did lead to a much more fitting finale to Rocky’s story 16
years later. In short, ‘Rocky V’ may be the ‘worst’ of the ‘Rocky’ films but I
wouldn’t go as far and say that it’s completely forgettable. There are some
good things in it, especially the final fight between Rocky and Tommy, but
overall it really doesn’t have the same heart or entertaining craziness of its
predecessors.
Rating: 2/5
ROCKY BALBOA (2006)
(Just a quick disclaimer: I am aware that even though I’ll
be frequently referring to this film as ‘the finale’ of the franchise, this
moniker has officially been made null and void by the release of ‘Creed’, even
though that film is technically just a spin-off. So for now, just view this
film as the finale to Rocky’s story. Now onto the review…)
So as we just noted earlier, ‘Rocky V’ was such a critical
and commercial disappointment that even its main star was dissatisfied with it.
Not wanting this to be the final send-off to this beloved franchise, Stallone
returned to the director’s chair for one final ‘Rocky’ film (until ‘Creed’),
‘Rocky Balboa’, released 16 years after the fifth film. Now retired from
boxing, Rocky finds himself yearning to return to the sport one last time after
a computerized simulation has him (in his prime) beating the current
heavyweight, Mason ‘the Line’ Dixon. Suffice it to say, this is a much better
conclusion to Rocky’s story than ‘Rocky V’; in fact, I’d argue it’s the best of
the series after the first film. It clearly was a very personal project for
Stallone and you can really see that, particularly in scenes that were clearly
meant to parallel his own struggles in getting the film made. It’s the franchise’s
strongest ‘underdog story’ since the original; whereas in that film Rocky was a
nobody given the chance of a lifetime, this film sees him trying to overcome
the factors of his age and the overall unlikeliness of him achieving much in
the ring because of it. And yes, the idea of the then 60-year old Stallone
getting back into the ring sounds rather ludicrous but Stallone was clearly
aware of that as it does play a part in the plot. Stallone and Burt Young, the
latter once again returning as Paulie, are both excellent once again as are
newcomers Geraldine Hughes as Marie, a character who first appeared in the
first film (the one who told Rocky ‘Screw you creepo!’), and real-life champ Antonio
Tarver as Dixon. Dixon’s a much better opponent than Tommy Gunn, who also deals
with the pressure of being in Rocky’s shadow but isn’t a completely egotistical
jerk like Gunn was. And while Talia Shire doesn’t reprise her role as Adrian,
the plot-point of the character’s death between films adds the right amount of
weight to the film’s strong emotional core. All of this comes together for a
very emotional yet highly satisfying ‘final hurrah’ for the ‘Italian Stallion’
in the ring.
Rating: 4.5/5
So now comes the
question… how do I rank all of these films? Well, like this…
6. Rocky V
5. Rocky IV
4. Rocky II
3. Rocky III
2. Rocky Balboa
1. Rocky
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