The Better Rocky Movie

Which Rocky movie did you like the most? So many people I know thought that Rocky IV was the better one. But personally I liked it the least. My choice is the last one, Rocky Balboa. There was so much emotion in this movie. And even after aging all these years, Rocky can still throw a punch.

I don't care for any of the Rocky movies and haven't even bothered to see VI yet. If I had to choose one to sit down and watch, it'd be the first one, I suppose. I'd only grade it about a C-, and the fact that it won the Best Picture Oscar over much better films Taxi Driver, Network, All the President's Men and Bound for Glory is some sick joke and an Academy embarrassment. But having said that, at least it's watchable and Bill Conti's theme is undeniably iconic. I do like that the first one also spends time to actually develop the characters and isn't all about training montages and in the ring (Talia Shire and Burt Young are great, and some of the supporting color like Joe Spinell add a nice texture to the affair). Stallone can barely act his way out of a paper bag or a meat locker there, but at least it is a naturalistic, humble performance. In the latter installments his "acting" is intolerable (he is capable of decent work now and again if he stays in his limited range, but you won't find it in Rockys II-V).

Rocky II is basically just the first movie except that they got rid of the only thing that makes the original remotely palatable: Rocky does win the big fight this time. Yee-haw. Rocky III is interesting at least for the timecapsule of early 1980s cheese, Survivor's infectious "Eye of the Tiger", Stallone's vanity and the over-the-top silliness of Mr. T's Clubber Lang, though it's still a very lousy movie and doesn't have enough camp value to carry it for me. Rocky IV is so sickeningly dumb and completely cartoonish that Drago should have turned out to be an actual robot. Fighting an android on the moon would have made a better flick than the dour and dull-witted Rocky V that couldn't even mine the easy target of the Don King personality and era of over-hyped boxoffice boxing for anything remotely interesting. And casting his real-life son, who was much too old, as Rocky's son was as bad a move as Francis putting Sofia Coppola in The Godfather Part III...it's just that movie at least had potential to be great. Rocky V would have been a turd no matter who was cast in the roles.

From what I hear the fans and critics saying, sounds like Balboa is at least a better note to go out on than the unwatchable V, but it would have been damn difficult to make a worse movie, so that's not much of an accomplishment.


But thanks for asking!

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There I removed the freakin spoilers and one line descriptions -geesh!

Thanks Holden, your opinion of the Rocky movies is noted.

i am a huge fan of roky and stallone. this is a great topic. warnign though, SPOILERS HERE!!!!

My fav in order are

rocky 2
rocky 5 (underrated. There are many great scenes in this one such as the flashback with mickey)

rocky 1
rocky 4
rocky 3
rocky balboa

the latest one is in fact overated in my opinion. I liked it when it came out cos i was so happy to see another rocky film. But after repeated viewing, it gets weaker.

even when i first saw it in the cinema, I felt there was something missing.

it was very clear stallone was hurt by the negative reviews of rocky 5, jokes about his speech and acting etc after 1990 so he decided to demonstrate his intellect in rocky balboa.

In this sixth film, rocky talks and talks, giving philisophical speeches about life. This was very boring and did not portary rockys true character which is supposed to be a simple humble man lacking intellect.

Sure, rocky is older now and more wise but he doesnt have to turn into some great orator.

The biggest killer of all for "balboa" was antonio tarver who played dixon. This guy couldnt really act and to make it worse, he tells rocky he will do his best to carry him.

From this point on, the whole movie fell flat since we know dixon is not out to hurt rocky. This took away all the tension the previous movies had.

the movie deflated even more when dixons trainer tells him "take it easy on balboa. its exhibition". Then during the second round, dixon breaks his arm so gave rocky the upper hand.

The film became very pointless. We have an opponent who doesnt want to hurt rocky, reminded by his trainer to take it easy, waves to the ref to end the fight after he staggers rocky and then breaks his arm.

There were many things stallone could have done with rocky 6 but he chose to please critics by remaking a bad version of the first.
There were some stuff i liked baout 6. Like the realistic HBO fight.

It was like i was watching rocky in a real pay per view. very clever.
liked the opening first 10 mins where we are introduced to rockys current life.

liked the pre training sequence where duke gives tactical instructions. (this part was more like the old rockys. inspiring and original).

On to rocky 5. This is my second fav and may become my first. This is actually very underated simply cos rocky doesnt fight in the ring.
It was very emotional with the flashback of mickey, betrayal by gunn and that magnificnet street fight in the end which was better than any ring fight.

In fact, I see rocky 5's popularity is growing now. The very same people who accuse 5 of lacking story are the same people who says 4 is their fav. How hilarious is that?

For those who accuse stallone of bad acting, you have to realise that rocky is not supposed to be a great talker or have intellect.
Stallone acted dumb cos that was rockys charatcer.

and sometimes in the rocky movies he says the most obvious things and doesnt have a clue whats going on cos thats the way rocky is supposed to be.

u look at the rambo films and he doesnt act like that at all.

I voted for the first one. Not a huge Rocky fan, in general, but I do like the first film quite a bit. 4 and 5 are unwatchable. Haven't seen Rocky Balboa yet.

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Well, I saw Rocky III to start. I'm not sure which one I want to vote on, because I love I, II, III, and VI. They go together so well.
I still need to watch part 5 again.
Maybe I enjoyed them so much, in part, because I was forever into weight lifting, and boxing. Movies alter moods, just like music. These get me off of my @ss.
I also have no issues with Sylvester Stallone. I have enjoyed allot of his movies.
My kids have recently watched all of these. Sly and I both have an autistic son. His is allot worse than mine, because his has never, and will never speak a word. That was the last I had heard about it, anyways. My son is not mute, by ANY means. heheh When he watched the first Rocky movie, during the scene where Sly was running up all of those steps again, my son got up, and started cheering him on, and when he made it, he started jumping, fists up, saying, "Yeah, yeah . . ."
I will have to dwell on my vote.

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I agree with you, when saying that Rocky IV is the worst of the series. I just didn't enjoy seeing Rocky work out, and run up stairs in Russia, since it seemed like a predictable, bland Rocky movie, just in a different location. I would considering this film highly overrated.


On the other hand, Rocky 2 is vastly underrated, and the top film in the entire series, in my opinion.

I also got motivated to work out watching Rocky's training. A few times, particularly during Rocky II, I got up and rode my exercise bike while watching the movie. By the way, you can vote for more than one on this poll...or at least I think you can. You just can't go back and change your vote once it's been made. I tried to add Rocky II as well as Rocky Balboa, but it wouldn't let me...so before you click send or whatever, make sure you vote on all your favs.

Will the person who voted for Rocky IV identify themselves so we may laugh at you.

Thanks.




"I defeat all man. Soon I defeat real champion."

That line is hilarious... What writing!

I never knew rocky 2 was underrated. I just thoguht it wasnt among peoples favs.

But yeah, 2 is my fav. saw it first when i was bout 15-16 and it made me cry when he got up at the count of ten and then he said "yo adrian, i did it".

at that age, i never cried in films but this one had me.

and when adrian goes "theres one thing i want u to do for me......win". then bill contis score comes on....wow! great stuff.

I just wished stallone used this particular piece in 6. ahhh man......he wasted a chance at what could have been a truly inspirational rocky.

i have often found myself watching 5 more than any other rocky so it may become my fav. we'll see.

I think Rocky 4 has them all beat. That Russian guy, was his most toughest and dangerous opponent.

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Wow, I didn't realise how much hatred people had for the Rocky franchise. Yeah, I know it's pro american and all that, but so what? The key word here is ENTERTAINMENT. People are particulary being hard on some of the sequels, namely the 3rd and 4th installments.

To the bloke who said that Rocky 3 wasn't self-conciously camp; how about the scene where Rocky and Apollo Creed are both running in tiny shorts across the beach? And hugging each other? Would you not class that as camp? At least with the sequels theres a sense of them not taking themselves all that seriously. 3 and 4 take a different approach to the Rocky series by making a sports entertaining flick rather than a character drama build up.

I admit that Rocky 2 was boring as **** and a complete rehash of the first one, minus the novelty. And the less said about the 5th one the better, but 3 and 4 aren't suppose to be anything less than entertainment, which I think is the point a lot of you are missing.

Rocky Balboa was simply made so that the series ended on a more personal and better note. Imagine making a few good movies in a series than having it end on another film the calibre of Rocky 5? It's embarrassing.

Rocky Balboa goes back to the original film's roots by using characterisation as a means of progressing the story. This is accomplished by nuanced and subtle performances from Stallone, Young etc. This is why Rocky Balboa is at least a strong ***. Also, it does something different with the last fight sequence, making Rocky fights all the more exciting again!

Try watching Rocky's 3, 4 and Balboa with different perspectives and you guys might actually find that you'll enjoy yourselves..

Why do u think the rocky franchise is hated? it is well loved although i realise it is easy to make jokes out of stallones speech impediment.

U said rocky 2 was boring and complete rehash of the first one but then why do u seem to compliment rocky balboa?
This movie, as everyone knows and is clearly obvious is more a rehash of the first than any rocky movie.

In fact, as i mentioned in earlier posts, i think the 6th one is the weakest of them all.

I liked Rocky III for the humour. I loved the 6th for the drama. I disliked the 4th because the Russian annoyed the hell out of me. The rest are pretty much tied for me. I loved them, but just not quite as much as the 6th.

I think that the best Rocky movie of all time is the last one shown. What made it really like-able to my opinion is that it served as the closure to the Rocky movie series. The drama was quite nice and there are memorable lines in the movie that people will remember if they put their heart and soul into the movie. It is real nice to see a movie like it, with those amazing lines in it. Such a treat for movie followers.

Looks like my lone vote implies that I'm the only one who like Rocky 3 the best. I still remember Rocky facing off against Clubber Lang ( Mr T ), I'm still a Mr T fan, so maybe that's why I liked it the best. I haven't yet seen Rocky 6, so my vote would preclude that movie from my selection.

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The first was something I liked .. I was young back then

The others .. never cared that much anyway

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Movie Reviews

You have to love it when Rocky defeats the Russians.

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Suspect's Reviews

You know, honestly I just think people miss the point when it comes to the entire series most of the time. Each film has its own theme and purpose. The boxing is just sort of the payoff and is a metaphor to life--meaning something a little different in each one. I think these movies kind of go over the heads of a lot of people.