From II to III they changed the emphasis away from Rocky's family and friends and the characters and moved it into straight boxing, but it was still inspirational, it was still fun.

Here I don't know what they did. It was like they changed the focus back on the characters but somehow butchered it in the process. The result was just horrible.

It wasn't the lack of Rocky fighting or the fact that Tommy Gun was kind of an evil traitorous friend that used him and then walked away... it was how they handled it.

It could have been the start of a good story of Rocky as a trainer, but it ended up just being awful. The dramatic family dynamic was shot and it turned into a mess with a convoluted story that hinted at being decent, but always missed the boat.

It should have been the more personal story, but it stopped being personal the moment Tommy Gun walked on screen and it turned into a mess that didn't seem to know which way it should go.

However... the same basic concept was used with Creed, and this time (despite it's FORGIVABLE faults in the script, it was done right). Partially due to the fact that Jordan is a far better actor than Morrison, but mostly due to the fact that it kept what it promised to deliver and the story was more coherent from start to finish.