Best Rocky Sequel - Page 2

Rocky IV

Because it has Dolph "Mr. Chemical Engineering Degree" Lundgren.

I'm shocked that so many of you out there are slapping up IV on your plate. I dug it, but it can't possibly hold a candle to II and III. The end fight between Drago and Rock pales to Rocky-Creed II.

II is the most complete sequel, but I love III. And Eye of the Tiger is probably one of the top 5 most perfect theme songs for a movie ever.

A theory about the Rocky saga I came up with years ago and tracked down in honor of this thread...



I theorize that Rocky was responsible for the downfall of his multi-million dollar empire when he purchased the robot for paulie's birthday. This simple act would have repercussions that would not be fully understood until Rocky V.

From the first moment the robot is revealed it immediately shows signs of being far more advanced than any robotic creation of its time should conceivably be. It also displays all the signs of artificial intelligence! How can this be? Could Rocky have mistakenly purchased a top secret military experiment in A.I. soldiers? Could lightening have struck the robot producing an "artificial soul" within its mechanical innards? These are questions we may never know the answer to. Perhaps Rocky VI will shed some light on this subject.

If Rocky had just payed more attention to this robot monstrosity he brought into his home I think things would have turned out much differently. The signs were visible from the first moments the robot began to interact with Paulie. The chilling, emotionless voice emanating from it's insectoid head might have been proclaiming it's love for Paulie but any reasonable human being knows that all robots are essentially evil. The conflicting love Paulie/hate mankind programming would have caused serious malfunctions within it's neural net causing the robot to display severe schizophrenic reasoning. It is here that the seeds of Rocky's downfall were planted.

The robot loved Paulie. What better way to show it's love than to help Paulie get out from underneath Rocky's shadow. So, just before leaving for Mother Russia to train Rocky for the bout with Ivan Drago, the robot secretly suggested to Paulie that he invest Rock's millions in hopes of doubling Rocky's already massive bank account while amassing Paulie a fortune of his own. No longer having to depend on Rock for his livelihood the robot felt Paulie would then devote himself entirely to her. In it's twisted artificial mind this would finally allow her and Paulie to fulfill their wildest dreams together. But as I stated earlier all robots are inherently evil so it could not help itself when it gave Paulie horrible investment advice.

Rocky's victory situation against the Soviet's "superman" was short lived when, upon returning from Russia, he learns that Paulie's bad investments have cost him his entire fortune. In the aftermath Paulie couldn't bring himself to tell anyone that it was the robots idea so he told Adrian that he had unwittingly gave the money to Rock's accountant and he had lost it all in the stock market. Forced to retire due to brain damage and now broke, Rocky and his family return to their humble beginnings in the slums of Philadelphia not knowing that it was a robots love that had been their undoing.

Neither Apollo, Clubber or Ivan could defeat Rocky. In the end it was a machine that brought down the champ. If there is a more terrifying allegory of man against machine than the Rocky saga I can't think of one.

Good call. I would rank Rocky's enemies 1) Robots, 2) Pussy, 3) Drago.

Thank god Rocky II is on T.V. right now, so bored today until it came on.

Italian chicken......ha, that Creed is a fool.

Does anyone know if they are going to Rerelease the Rocky Box set before #6hits? I have been holding off on that set until a better verson with more features is released.

The essential themes of all these movies seems to be if you work hard and make it to the top you will become spoiled and get knocked the fuck out.

"Well whadda we waitin' for?!"

Little known fact about the robot- It was actually a sexbot to keep Paulie from trying to fuck his sister again.

Seriously, anyone who discusses the fights in these movies in terms of realism has never watched a boxing match in his or her life. Every single boxer character-- Rocky, Apollo, Clubber, Draggo, and Tommy Gunn (who was an actual boxer for god's sake)-- looks like they couldn't fight their way out of a papper bag and/or would get their collective asses handed to them by said paper bag. That being said, Rocky IV is clearly the finest of the sequels:

"During the fight, I've seen a lot of changing, in the way I feel about you, and the way you feel about me. I guess what I'm trying to say is that if I can change, and you can change, everyone can change."

And, thus, the Berlin Wall came down... or so history tells us.

Edited because it's a madhouse, a madhouse.

Well duh, it's a movie. If they were going for realism, they wouldn't have had Brigitte Nielsen trying to act.

I thought the psychodelic street fight in Rocky 5 was totally realistic.
btw, Rocky 5 was better than 4. Yeah I said it.

Did 4 have Rocky with blood flowing out of his head?
Did 4 have Obi-Wan Mickey?
Did 4 have Rocky playing with his rubber ball under the Frankford L?
I think not. "Yo, my ring is out here."

I'll also give a slight nod of support to Rocky V. It's not as engaging as the others, but I have to give it credit for at least attempting a radically differnt direction. Also features one of the series finest moments when Pauly gets decked, causing Rocky to find the motivation to thrash Tommy Gunn. That's drama. And, lest we forget, he took Sage's room!

As for the best sequel, I'd give the title to III. It strikes just the right balance between quasi-realism (II) and outright cartoon (IV). Dead Meat!

Its even between 2 and 4

And much like Rocky after running up the steps in the original, Bob stands alone in his adoration for 5, and in the poll for that matter.

III all the way. I like my villians with no redeeming qualities at all, and certainly not during/just after the climatic fight scene in the film (See Rocky 4, and the Karate Kid por ejemplos).

I like the GO-GO-GO FOR IT Final Fight in Rocky V.

It has those weird earthquake cam reaction shots (He took my ROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!), and a strange First Person Sonar Effect when Rocky staggers to his feet.

Let's not jump to conclusions here! I just said it's better than 4. I voted for 2. Probably for the same reason everybody voted for 4. It was the first Rocky I saw as a kid.

Then who is the lone wolf, maverick Rocky 5 fan who prefers Tommy Gunn to Apollo, Clubber, or the object of Moltisanti's manlove?

Whoever he is he should be locked up. ROCKY V should have been titled THE FUCKING OVER OF TONY BURTON.

Moltisanti said it before I could, but I've been talking with my cousin about this for weeks. Tony Burton, who had a substantial role in all of the other films, only has one scene at the beginning, a fucking travesty and waste of talent that is.

On the subject of best sequel, they're all pretty much the same story, but I like the 4th one, and the 3rd just to see Rocky take out Clubber Lang and shut his big mouth for good.

They should have just cut to this occasionally during Rocky V.

Thank Christ Burton will be on hand for part 6. It better be more than a cameo.

In an ideal world I'd like Burton to be married to Apollo's widow. Perhaps the one good thing to come from his death could be those 2 finding new love with each other. Apollo would want them to be happy.

Or he could marry Brigitte Nielsen. Think of the on-set tension!

Burton had the best scene in all of II:

"He's all wrong for us, baby. I saw you beat that man like I never saw no man get beat before, and the man ... kept ... coming ... after you. Now we don't need no man like that in our lives."

I just thought he was a stable presense in all those films, to see him get reduced to "brief background black guy" in part 5 was a disgrace. It was nice to see him pop up with Stallone for a scene in SHADE.

ROCKY V really could have used a subplot involving Burton falling in love with Apollo's wife. I envision Burton helping the widow Creed remove the boxing memoralbilia from her mansion, because it's just too painful for her to look at. Then as Burton is packing away Apollo's Uncle Sam hat he could lock eyes with her. Cue Lionel Richie's "Hello" to kick in as they passionately embrace in a love scene more sensual than Rocky and Adrian's first kiss.

Too bad he lost at potatoes in Precinct 13, could have gone all the way.

I'll tell you this much, if Spielberg had made better use of Tony Burton I'm confident HOOK could be upgraded from "crap" to just "junk."

Tony Burton


Bobby Rhodes




Were these two strapping gentlemen seperated at birth or what?

Been going through the series with my wife who's never seen the movies.   At this point, there's a trilogy of Rocky Dramas and a trilogy of Rocky Action Movies.   For best Rocky Drama sequel, it has to go to Rocky Balboa.   It would default to Rocky 2 since that was a true sequel to the first film.   As for the best Rocky Action Movie, perhaps 4 but as a kid, I LOVED Rocky joining forces with Apollo Creed to take down Clubber Lang.   It was like Superman and Batman joining forces.   Also, out of all the Rocky opponents, Apollo is perhaps my favorite.   Apollo didn't hate Rocky.   His problem with Rocky in the sequel was all about his career and his legacy and he was concerned with business more than anything.  

 

The one problem I have is how unrealistic the boxing gets from sequel to sequel.   Rocky literally never puts his gloves up.   He just wears down the opponent's fists with his face.   Great strategy.

My fave is definitely Rocky IV.

Rocky IV is so fucking awful.  Maybe I just saw it too late in my life to get on the nostalgia train, but I'd watch V twice in a row before I'd endure IV again.

Dolph Lundgren in Rocky IV makes it amazing.

Rocky IV is a bag of shit but a thoroughly entertaining one. There's so little actual story to it, it's amazing. It's like four important scenes padded the fuck out with two-hundred montages. It should qualify as a musical.

Rocky IV is the...Best Sequel in this series!

I have to go with IV. I said it in another thread, cheese ain't good for you, but its damn tasty!

Just watched Rocky IV and while I'm not changing my vote, it is an interesting movie to watch.   A few thoughts occurred to me while watching it....

 

I actually cheered when Drago took Apollo to school in the first round.   Not sure that was Stallone's intention of making us route against the Master of Disaster but I was.   Of course when Drago killed him in the ring and said, "If he dies, he dies", well that was the end of any sort of nuance.

 

The "There's No Easy Way Out" Montage Montage was random as shit.   I did like the strobe photography on Drago though.   

 

The back to nature training montage with the 50 second intermission of Adrian coming to Russia and back to more montage was as awesome as I remember it.   The editing was really noteworthy even if it was in service of a horrible movie.

 

Black Mouthguard.   Genius bit from the wardrobe dept.   That shit is just freaky.

 

Very satisfying boxing match.   When Drago gets cut, it's on.   Great editing and cinematography.

 

This movie is such a mixed bag.   It's like Stallone is saying, "I'm going to make the worst movie you'll ever see but you'll still love it because I know how to implement the FORMULA flawlessly"  and he goes and proves it with this movie.   Even with the baggage, the Rocky formula taps into the lizard brain part of us and we respond to it if done right.

 

Also, how have we not done a Watch Along to this movie yet?   That needs to be fixed. 

 

Edit: Tried watching part 5 and only got as far as the Mickey scene at the gym.   I had to tap out.     It started out interesting and then it just got progressively worse and worse.   I couldn't hang any more.

The season premiere of the Cleveland Show the other night actually DID the "No Easy Way Out" montage, as Cleveland drove back to Rhode Island to confront Peter for not returning his calls.  God help me, I was singing along.

Someone has to say it: Rocky Balboa.

 

We all rolled our eyes when it was announced but Stallone really came from behind to make a great movie. Like the original the Rocky's conflict is mostly internal, his goal is once again to prove something to himself by going to distance rather than actually winning the match. There's real heart in this movie and is a fitting and, I dare say, beautiful end for a character.

No not Rocky Balboa, it had no Adrian and the son was different and was the guy from Heros. Part 3 is my favorite because it was clearly the template of Spider-Man 3, since it showed the hero getting full of himself then beaten by a newcomer and then teaming up with his old nemesis to bring him down.

Rocky Balboa is my number 1 choice for best sequel but that wasn't up for a vote on this thread.  I don't mind Adrian being dead and changing out the son for the guy from Heroes.   If Adrian were still alive helping around the restaurant, would Rocky even want to get in the ring?   Also Sage Stallone wasn't the greatest of actors.   In fact, getting Milo in the role was a great decision.   The only thing I can think of that would bring the movie down is one too many Rocky monologues.   I counted something like 6 speeches by Rocky in the movie.   In a normal movie, this would be a deal breaker but the movie has so much charm, you sort of forgive it.

 

Question for the folks here.   What movies are safe to skip over if you want to go from Rocky to Rocky Balboa?    I would say for Balboa to make sense, you have to stop at 2 and go directly to Balboa.   It sets him up as champ and we see his son getting born.   Also Rocky is still a character we recognize from the original.   Once we get to part 3, the thread is lost and it's a bit jarring to go from how Rocky is portrayed in 3, 4, and 5 and how he's portrayed in Balboa.   What say you?   What's your personal Rocky saga?

5 is important because it shows Rocky's fall from grace and has a great busted knuckle street fight.

5 you can take or leave.   Yeah it would be an adjustment going from 4 to where Rocky's livin' large in a mansion to "Balboa" where Rocky is back in his old neighborhood.  That can easily be explained by Adrian's medical bills or Rocky just wanting to downsize after the kid moves out and his wife dying.   Just a line of dialogue can erase 5 from everybody's memories.   Also, what's up with  the lame ass excuse in 5 about Rocky's Mafia past keeping him from doing product endorsements?   I know they gotta close that loophole off but really?   The biggest sin of "5" is that it uses a storyline that would make Stallone's return to the character viable and offer a way to keep the franchise going.   Namely have Rocky take on the "Mickey" role and coach an underdog nobody wants to train.   I always thought that could be a good movie.   Too bad it was squandered on Tommy Gun.