2. Rocky Disowns Adonis - Creed
It's been a long time since the Rocky franchise carried much emotional heft. The original had it in spades, but with each passing installment, the emotional core was kicked further to the side in favor of increasingly silly training montages and trite relationship troubles. But Creed recaptured that sentimental poignancy all over again. It does so by establishing a solid, family-like connection between Rocky Balboa and Apollo Creed's son, Adonis. This bond is strong, but it's tested often throughout the course of the movie. One instance - which isn't the most heart-wrenching of the film, but sets up the one that is - involves Rocky, in a moment of distress, telling Adonis that the two of them are not family. For Adonis, a young man with deep-seeded abandonment issues (he never actually met his father), this is pretty much the worst thing his mentor could have said to him. In the climactic fight between Adonis and "Pretty" Ricky Conlan, which heavily parallels Rocky's fight against Apollo Creed in the first film, there are several moments where Adonis should throw in the towel. Rocky wants him to stop, begs even. But Adonis refuses. Why? ...Because he has to prove, to himself and to the father he never met, that he wasn't a mistake. He needs to finish every last round, not only to feel connected to Apollo, but to prove himself worthy of carrying the Creed name. And that, ladies and gentlemen, is how you get adult males to bawl into their shirtsleeves.