Amph Gonna Fly Now: Rocky / Creed / Drago / Delphi

So no Rocky in Creed III?

It’s about four years ago I watched all the Rocky movies seriously for the first time.

They were very enjoyable. I thought each pair of movies functioned as a single story. Rocky and Rocky 2 are about Rocky becoming a champion. 3 & 4 are about Rocky dealing with the fame and life of being the champion. 5 & Balboa are about Rocky living on the other side of fame as a former champion and what legacy means. Creed and Creed 2 are about a new generations and the old generation passing on legacy.

I was amazed how well the story worked across all the movies. How little moments become important call backs in later films. The human drama was very organic and seemed set up naturally in the early installments.

 

He could fight Mr. T's grandson. Comon Creed. You better get that bad look off your face before I knock it off.

 

Anyone think that Majors could’ve definitely played Mike Tyson in a biopic?

 

so he's got a childhood friend that has been in jail for 18 years who immediately becomes a champion caliber boxer in his 30s just like Adonis

kind of getting the impression the people making these films don't know much about sports.

 

Eh. I’ll allow it. The entire franchise is based on a literally random guy becoming one of the greatest boxers of all time.

A guy having boxing experience going to jail but still working on his craft getting out and being competitive… it’s not as crazy as it sounds.

 

Rocky was still a boxer for about a decade though, but yeah there are some leaps of logic here and there in the series

 

So, next week we'll find out, finally, who is the

Spoiler

most dangerous MCU villain: Killmonger or Kang

 

We'll see what Majors new guy is like but I am getting Clubber Lang vibes from him. "I live alone, I train alone, and when I win the title, I'll win the title alone."

Crash course for Creed III going win Rocky vs Drago, Rocky Balboa, Creed & Creed II. The Rocky vs Drago alternative cut is sorely missing Paulie's Robot but it has some neat alternate editing choices so it's just not the no Paulie's robot. Version I bought from YouTube had the Russian subtleties incorrect (they show up an hour beforehand so Drago's "I fight for me!" line appears at 22 minutes in instead of 1 hr 22 minutes)

 

So Dame gets his (seemingly improbable) title shot in this when Donnie mentions that Apollo gave Rocky a (seemingly improbable) title shot, so I totally buy it for that as an in-universe explanation. Also it's the only time Rocky is mentioned in the entire movie, which was a little weird. But Rocky has had like, five happy endings by now, it's fine

As for the "anime influence" in the fights

Spoiler

the finale features a whole sequence where Donnie and Dame go at each other and the entire stadium just blanks out and becomes empty, no crowd noise, no people, and a random imaginary fence pops up behind Donnie when he's getting pummeled, that whole bit felt very much influenced by abstract anime moments, so I see it

Gave a few Rocky movies/all of Creed a rewatch beforehand. I totally forgot that Ivan Drago threw in the towel for his son when Donnie had Viktor backed into a corner. Maybe Ivan was having flashbacks to himself killing Apollo and, his Ivan's revenge warped brain, he thought Donnie was going to kill his son in return. I buy it viewing it as that.

Spoiler

Also Viktor Drago returns in Creed III, and he seems to have a business relationship with Donnie and even later is used as Donnie's sparring partner! That's definitely crazy to see and there isn't any sort of explanation why, but there's no mention or sight of Ivan. so maybe Viktor realized his dad was using him as a revenge pawn in a decades old scheme to get back at Rocky and got over it. Or Ivan just crawled into a corner and died. That's acceptable too.

 

Ivan realized that nothing that he or Victor could do would bring Ludmila back to him. He finally understood that his obsession with punishing Rocky by destroying Adonis was hurting himself and his son. He also accepted that Adonis was a better fighter and that Rocky was more than lucky. He was just a good fighter with a strong will and that he passed that on to Adonis, making him a better person. He knew about Rocky's injuries, his bankruptcy and comeback. He was able to move on from that fight. Ivan hadn't and it consumed him.

 

Drago Jr was sparring buddies with Donnie in Creed 3, no sign of his pops though.

 

@Darth Punk Well, here is the thing. To me, Rocky IV exists because it isn't Rocky IV. It's Drago I.



Also, there is no Rocky V as well but for very different reasons. And on a side note, I still cannot believe my family took me to see Drago...I mean Rocky IV in the movie theater when it came out. I was in second grade as I was not quite 8 yet, which ironically is the same age as our youngest. She has seen all the HP movies, Barbie, and even parts of Mean Girls, along with getting into all the movies Aquaman. But I don't think we would let her watch Rocky IV. The boys have seen it, but I think they were around 10 or so, and even then, I skimmed through the fight against Apollo, or we should call what it was his murder.

 

I still recall seeing the film in a real classic old school theater when I was ten. After the movie I went nextdoor to the candy shop newsstand and picked up some Drago trading cards. Still have them in my attic.