I am a Gemini so there are two different type of viewers within me I have to cater to.
Surprised you chose
Rocky, in this equation it's the t2/aliens of the boxer story, if that makes any sense.
Well,
Rocky was first.
I know it's probably because of great filmmaking but I just disliked DeNiro's LaMotta (the character not the performance) so intensely that it made it hard for me to slog through the narrative in which none of the characters are really even decent people when the movie lacked a strong narrative arc or real climax for me. I mean, in the end, he's the same ******* he was in the beginning.
Also, there's the issue of how people think about
Rocky versus the film it actually is.
Rocky is actually a pretty gritty, low-budget, character-based film that was so damn good it won Best Picture - in the 1970s - despite being a debut effort from a young screenwriter and first leading role for a young, barely-known actor. It does have multiple strong character arcs (Rocky, Mickey, and Adrienne, and Paulie is a really good character too) and obviously the story is excellent and not as rosy and feel-good as people think they remember it to be. It's a classic.
This case may not hold water for some cinephiles, to be honest, I don't usually have to like or relate to the characters of a film to appreciate it or even think it's a masterpiece, but I just could connect with
Raging Bull whereas I actually continue to connect more and more with
Rocky the older I get.