Aged best: subtle Rocky homages, including chicken chasing and Kellerman contrasting Balboa’s body shots with Creed’s head shots.
Aged best: Rocky’s reluctant acceptance of training Donnie, especially the restaurant-food unloading and eventual gym arrival. — Chris Ryan
A provocative aged-best nomination praises emotional manipulation: Donnie reveals Rocky’s illness to get Bianca to open her door. The exchange is joking rather than an endorsement of real-world conduct. — Van Lathan
Aged best: realistic YouTube and 24/7 media touches, the large Mickey gym poster, and Coogler’s intimate camerawork in the upside-down kiss and cheesesteak booths. — Bill Simmons
Andre Ward’s career peak is debated against his earlier run and Kovalev fights; this period is only probably when he was most prominent, not a firm film-Apex award.
Aged best: Wood Harris as Duke’s son, with the irony of The Wire’s Avon refusing to train the actor who played Wallace; more Harris is a reason for sequels. — Bill Simmons
Aged best: Stallone was reportedly 69 at release, the same age as Burgess Meredith in Rocky. Donnie calling Rocky Unc is also introduced. — Bill Simmons
Burgess Meredith’s aged appearance prompts jokes about earlier roles and smoking.
Aged best: Conlan’s trainer and his demand that Adonis use Creed’s name; the Kobe-number 24 jacket is admired. Donnie’s fictional Los Angeles upbringing is offered as the reason he would idolize Kobe, whose Philadelphia connection is also noted. — Bill Simmons
Jordan reportedly told Bill he took a real punch for the eleventh-round knockdown at Stallone’s insistence, continuing a franchise tradition; the Leo fight is reiterated as aged best. — Bill Simmons
Aged best: producers taking a chance on young Coogler, and Bianca having an independent, written character rather than the obstructive sports-movie-girlfriend role. Rocky IV’s Adrian prompts a long mocking contrast.
Most Rewatchable Scene begins with young Adonis’s opening encounter with Mary Anne, praising a scene that works better than expected. — Bill Simmons
The opening adoption scene is essential to explaining Adonis’s feelings; the unclenched fist and title reveal are praised.
The Andre Ward car-key-bet fight is nominated, though watching Donnie beaten makes one host sad; Van compares it to humbling real boxing encounters. — Van Lathan
Donnie meeting Rocky at Adrian’s is praised for Stallone gradually recognizing Apollo’s son and the time-is-undefeated line. Rocky diminishing his own victories to honor Apollo reframes the franchise mythology.
Rocky says Apollo won their private third fight. Bill doubts whether he is sparing the son’s feelings; Van thinks Apollo probably won. The uncertainty remains unresolved. — Bill Simmons
Donnie moving into Paulie’s room leads to a scene using Stallone’s real son’s photograph; the hosts praise his visible emotion and report Coogler persuaded him to include it. Paulie’s absence and missing robot prompt jokes. — Bill Simmons
The uninterrupted Leo–Donnie fight is nominated; the panel names its cinematographer and reports thirteen takes with the eleventh used. — Bill Simmons
The two-round fight is praised as a culmination of boxing cinema, immersive proof of Jordan’s credibility and Coogler’s action ability. Its tie-ups and counterpunches feel more realistic than the Rocky-style finale; the camera’s move from Rocky’s instruction to the knockout is admired.
The Baby Creed confrontation with Tone Trump is a scene nominee, called a characteristically Philadelphia escalation between two easily offended men. Van had invited the rapper to attend. — Van Lathan
Van interprets Tone Trump and Bianca as former sexual partners; another host offers past flirtation without consummation as an alternative. Familiarity is agreed but sexual history remains speculation; a joint music track is imagined. — Van Lathan
A provocative joke links Bianca’s hearing loss to gunfire; the panel asks whether Baby Creed is insulting and suggests Adonis was primed to take offense.
The jailhouse reconciliation and its absent-father monologue are nominated, linked to the mirror-training advice. — Bill Simmons
The bikes-and-ATVs training montage is a thrilling modern counterpart to Rocky’s runs. Its Meek Mill music is framed against the 2015 Drake feud and explicitly wins the needle-drop category.
The press conference, Conlan’s false-Creed taunt, the trunks from his mother, Rocky’s pre-fight speech, Tupac’s Hail Mary and Conlan’s entrance are praised. — Bill Simmons
Adonis shadowboxing while watching his father’s footage is nominated as an image of wanting to become Apollo. — Van Lathan
The final fight is nominated, especially round two and the late corner exchange about not being a mistake. Rocky’s love and renewed will to fight his illness lead into the deliberately withheld Rocky theme; the implausibly timed finish is enjoyed with objections deferred. — Bill Simmons
The final museum-steps exchange about seeing one’s life is nominated.
Chris chooses the Meek Mill training montage and adds the cheesesteak first date as a particularly Philadelphia scene; the date also wins the food award.
Van favors the father-film shadowboxing and training montage; the recreated 24/7 fight promotion also impresses. Another final choice is the montage. Liev Schreiber’s narration and his Hard Knocks appearance prompt a tangent.
Questions imagine terrorist profit shares and whether underlings should expect betrayal: Travers and Qualen might each take a third, while lesser henchmen receive percentages or are killed before payment. These are hypotheses, not explicit film contracts. — Kyle Brandt
Delmar's actual soccer ability is questioned because repeated kicks fail to finish Hal; minor-league/club or teenage-level ability is imagined. — Bill Simmons
The cave bats raise questions about bite risk and damage, with uncertainty explicit and First Blood as another Stallone cave comparison. — Bill Simmons
A proposed alternate ending has Hal throw Jesse off the mountain to even the score, setting up a villainous-Rooker sequel. — Kyle Brandt
Throwing Jesse into helicopter blades would escalate the hypothetical ending further, and both speakers favor the outrageous bookend. — Kyle Brandt
Hal changes quickly from hatred to protecting Gabe. — Kyle Brandt
Gabe surviving in a T-shirt without freezing and everyone lacking headgear seem implausible. — Bill Simmons
The second stoner’s fate remains unclear despite Frank rescuing him. — Bill Simmons
A gunshot dispersing all the coyotes seems too easy. — Bill Simmons
A climbing critic reportedly objected to the unrealistic piton-firing gun. — Bill Simmons
The Denver Mint produces coins rather than the film’s paper currency. — Bill Simmons
Stallone's bodybuilder physique seems wrong for a climber, whose lower weight and sinewy build would make repeated pull-ups more plausible. — Kyle Brandt
A late nitpick questions the tiny rescue staff and absence of younger recruits.
Characters cover enormous mountain distances implausibly fast, including reaching the distant hut and warming with only a thin thermal. — Bill Simmons
Isobar reportedly involved a genetically created monster escaping on a train, with Stallone and Kim Basinger attached and successive departures by Ridley Scott and Emmerich. — Bill Simmons
Gale Force reportedly cast Stallone as an ex-Navy SEAL fighting pirates during a hurricane. — Bill Simmons
Harlin reportedly received three million dollars; four million went to writers, including a rejected erotic-thriller rewrite by Joe Eszterhas. — Bill Simmons
Cliffhanger reportedly followed the cancellation of Gale Force, with Harlin retaining his fee. — Bill Simmons
The rabbit’s survival reportedly required a100,000-dollar Stallone-funded reshoot after test screenings. The claim a rabbit was actually killed on camera is unverified speaker assertion. — Bill Simmons
The absurd forty-foot cliff jump was reportedly removed after trailer audiences laughed at it. — Bill Simmons
Carolco reportedly surrendered much of the revenue rights to finance production, stopped twice for inability to pay crews, overspent by 40 million and took a 2 million salary sacrifice from Stallone, leaving little benefit from the hit. — Bill Simmons
Stallone's reported top-three physical-condition films are RockyIV, Cliffhanger and RamboIII; RamboII is a wrong guess and Cobra misses the list. — Kyle Brandt
Mountain filming reportedly used the Italian Dolomites near Cortina d’Ampezzo. — Bill Simmons
Simon Crane’s million-dollar plane crossing is reported as a record aerial stunt; failure to enter the second plane required an edited close-up. — Bill Simmons
The opening glove reportedly would not slip despite oversizing and Vaseline because Stallone held too tightly, eventually yielding the desired take. — Kyle Brandt
Stallone reportedly injured his hand on a soundstage cliff but described it publicly as a climbing injury. — Bill Simmons
Turner's beauty is praised while her haircut is flagged as aged worst. — Bill Simmons
Turner's haircut resembles Stallone's and makes them look like siblings, though her mature appeal and the style's brief popularity are acknowledged. — Kyle Brandt
Rough green screen and comparison with Cruise’s later stunts are aged-worst points; contradictory reports of Stallone’s comfort with heights remain unresolved. — Bill Simmons
The abrupt credits are aged worst; a cabin aftermath scene is desired, and the stoner characters are introduced as another complaint. — Bill Simmons
The stoner pair is aged worst and a possible weak link, derivative of Bill/Ted, Wayne/Garth and Beavis/Butthead; their sudden shooting is nevertheless shocking, illustrating the era's harsh violence. — Kyle Brandt
Shooting at the avalanche is enjoyable but inexplicable. — Bill Simmons
The mountain-guide premise is criticized as derivative of Shoot to Kill. — Bill Simmons
Gabe destroying the money without pocketing a bundle is frustrating. — Kyle Brandt
The reduced prize of roughly 30 million seems too small to justify continuing the operation; even the original 100 million feels light beside Die Hard's 640 million and the bribes, crew and risk involved. — Kyle Brandt
Hal's unfair anger and Gabe's disastrous bad-time-for-everybody/drop-it responses are aged-best comedy. — Bill Simmons
Frozen Stallone mumbling in the warming hut and his bad money-burning puns are aged-best pleasures, reflecting the era's Schwarzenegger-style one-liners. — Bill Simmons
Trevor Jones’s orchestral score is an aged-best choice. — Bill Simmons
Gabe’s Land Rover is an aged-best choice. — Bill Simmons
Qualen defining love as sacrifice before killing his girlfriend is an admired villain moment. — Bill Simmons
Removing the implausible jump is praised in contrast with Skyscraper’s disappointing execution. — Bill Simmons
The rescue opening is a contender for the greatest opening scene, though the novice's ability to reach the summit and Hal's injured knee create obvious questions.
The opening's rescue plan is criticized as needlessly dangerous compared with lifting people directly by helicopter; the failed buckle lacks redundancy, and Gabe using one arm rather than both is questioned. Despite this, the scene is cinematic. — Bill Simmons
Hal's immediate hostile stare at Gabe after the fall seems to promise revenge that never comes and remains unfair given his own inaction. — Bill Simmons
Frank appears to smile in the background during the death; wind-induced squinting is a possible explanation, but the effect is unintentionally comic. — Kyle Brandt
Gabe returning to Jesse eight months later is a favorite bad-acting scene: mumbling, overwrought dialogue and his greater trauma than Hal resemble a soap opera. Brandt recognizes lines from his own Days of Our Lives experience. — Bill Simmons
The midair transfer is an admired scene candidate. — Bill Simmons
The plane-to-plane stunt reportedly cost a million dollars and was performed for real. — Bill Simmons
Travers failing to ensure all his victims are dead is a major planning mistake. — Bill Simmons
The first suitcase and avalanche sequence is a favorite absurd scene. — Bill Simmons
The villain firing at the avalanche is baffling, while Gabe survives beneath a suitcase. — Bill Simmons
Forcing Gabe to remove his coat exposes his physique, while Hal suddenly worries about the man he blamed. — Bill Simmons
The nighttime sliding fight is a fun scene, ending with the climbing stake stopping the descent and an unconvincingly made-up scraped face. — Bill Simmons
The Leon fight is admired because Stallone takes an unusually one-sided beating before the obvious sharp cave formations pay off; stalactite death is proposed as an Apex. — Bill Simmons
Saving Jesse with another glove pull calls back to the opening, jokingly suggesting Gabe tries harder because he loves her and has no distracting shouting. — Bill Simmons
Frank's death brings another Rooker No and the emotional never-hurt-anybody line, punctured by Lithgow's Touching; the excess is enjoyed. — Bill Simmons
Delmar beating Hal while narrating soccer is the strongest alternative to the opening. — Kyle Brandt
His soccer enthusiasm and racism are interpreted as 1993 villain coding before the 1994 World Cup changed American interest. — Kyle Brandt
Season’s over, asshole supplies a celebrated payoff to the fight. — Bill Simmons
