Every Rocky Movie Ranked From Worst To Best

7. Rocky IV

Stallone Dolph Lundgren Rocky IV
MGM-UA

Rocky IV is easily mocked for its shameless campiness, earnest approach to geo-politics and hammy performances, but it's also the weirdest and most interesting film in the series.

Sure, it doesn't remotely hold up if taken seriously as a piece of inspirational entertainment - hence it playing second-to-last here - but the cartoonishness, the montages, Paulie's (Burt Young) robot and its sheer energetic thrall make it a ton of fun.

There's also a solid argument to be made that it's a film retroactively improved by the release of Creed II, which adds a compelling post-script to Rocky's defeat of Ivan Drago (Dolph Lundgren).

Not a good film by any conventional metric, but there's something to be said for its aggressive goofiness and, again, Stallone is an easy figure to root for.

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Contributor

Stay at home dad who spends as much time teaching his kids the merits of Martin Scorsese as possible (against the missus' wishes). General video game, TV and film nut. Occasional sports fan. Full time loon.