According to Rotten Tomatoes, the best Rocky movie of all time isn’t even a Rocky movie. Since Sylvester Stallone defied the odds by writing and starring in his feature film debut Rocky (1976), which went on to win the Oscars for Best Picture, Best Directing, and Best Editing, Rocky has become one of the biggest and most longstanding sports franchises in Hollywood history. Rocky expanded to four sequels, a reboot movie, and a spinoff trilogy Creed, which has become the modern-day standard for boxing movies.
Stallone has appeared in all of the Rocky movies in order except for the most recent installment, Creed III. After the monumental success of the original Rocky, Stallone took over as the director of the franchise from 1979 until 2006 with the exception of 1990’s Rocky V, which was directed by the original film’s director John G. Avildsen. Stallone has since starred in major franchises such as The Expendables, Rambo, and Creed starring Michael B. Jordan as the son of Apollo Creed (Carl Weathers), who played both a protagonist and antagonist in the Rocky films.
Creed is the best movie of the Rocky extended universe, according to Rotten Tomatoes. Although Creed only received one Academy Award nomination for Stallone’s supporting role as Rocky, it is still rated more highly than the original Rocky film, which some viewers would argue cannot be beaten. Interestingly, Creed is the only Rocky movie that was placed on Rotten Tomatoes’ list of the 300 greatest movies of all time, which was determined by each film’s combined critic and audience score.
The list placed L.A. Confidential (1997) in the top spot as the best movie ever made, ahead of The Godfather, Seven Samurai, and Casablanca. Creed ranked as the 168th best movie of all time with an impressive 95% critic score and an 89% audience score. Rocky received a 92% critic score but just a 69% audience score, which likely played a major factor in why it was left off the list. As a whole, the Creed franchise rates higher than any other Rocky movie, with the Creed sequels earning critic scores of 83% and 88%, respectively.
While Rocky deserves some bonus points for establishing the foundations of a legendary franchise, Creed took the original concept, expanded on its backstory in thoughtful ways, and ultimately delivered more of an impactful punch than Rocky did. There are nearly four decades that separate the release of Rocky and Creed, so it’s important to keep in mind the myriad differences in resources, culture, and various other factors between the movies. Rocky is more of an achievement in and of itself that walked so Creed could run. The creative vision of writer and director Ryan Coogler also greatly enhanced Creed and made it the best installment of the Rocky franchise.