One of the reasons for the Rocky franchise success is that he always wrote and cast great villains. Every single one of those guys you hated but you also loved them.

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O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason.

this one started out a little slow, with backstory that does eventually pay off nicely. it's predictable, like all of these movies are, and it's the delightful kind of predictable. like, you know what's going to happen but you are looking forward to it all falling out.

one big emotional punch around the end of the second act.

great montage, builds extremely well. and the soundtrack just pops.

overall, damn fine entertainment. these movies just deliver.

out of

one flaw--the casting of the young Dame was terrible. the kid who played young Adonis was great, but man did they whiff on the other one.

I enjoyed it a lot. It is a good series of movies. It was a little odd with no Rocky tho. But had kind of a Rocky 3 vibe to it. I believe Jordan has already confirmed that there will be a 4

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"He is a loathsome, offensive brute
--yet I can't look away."

Going tomorrow. Can't wait!

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I really liked it. A very solid addition to the franchise.

You are right that is was odd without even a mention of what Rocky is up to. I understand why they wouldn't want to kill him off, but they could have addressed his absence even a little bit. Even just showing a text to Adonis about his mom or something. I have one major complaint, and maybe I missed it, but no "Gonna Fly Now" during the training montage?

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