Rating the Rocky Movies: Part II
Every artform is open to interpretation. We all like different things. So I’m sure there are people who disagree with my bottom four choices. That’s okay. I understand why people love the other Rocky movies; or if they even prefer one of the Creed movies, which are slick and well-made. I look at them from the point of view that I want them to be true to the original universe. Rocky III and Rocky IV feel as if they stray, trading substance for glitz. The Creed movies feel like they’re hitting the same beats but (for me) not generating the same emotion. They play like remakes trying to again capture…
Creed
I’ve always loved fight movies, even though the fight genre is usually formulaic and predictable, e.g. an underdog will enter some sort of fight game, come good, and – more often than not – win. This is where the recent Southpaw (2015) – starring Jake Gyllenhaal, Rachel McAdams, and Forest Whitaker – didn’t work. Gyllenhaal played Billy Hope, an undefeated champion sitting on a 44–0 record. When a personal tragedy derails his career, he enlists trainer Tick Wills (Whitaker) to help him train, regain his title, and get his life back on track and rescue his daughter from welfare. This story is the antithesis of the fight movie formula. Hope…