Tear Jerker / Creed (2015)

"Yo, Adrian. My darling."

• When Rocky goes to visit Adrian's grave, just like in the last film, we learn that Paulie's now gone, too.
  • It takes a minute for you to realize that Little Marie, Steps, Punchy the dog, Spider Rico, even Duke Evers, all of them who were pretty much the last living vestiges of Rocky's life in the previous film, are never mentioned, and never make an appearance, even to visit Rocky during his cancer treatment. Rocky is truly alone.
  • Two of the people mentioned are working in Rocky's restaurant. Someone has to keep the place running while he's getting treatment and training Donnie. They may have come to visit when they could, but given the long hours involved it may not have been often. In any case the focus of the story is not on them, but on Rocky's Redemption Quest: he feels as though he failed Robert as a father, and could have done better by Tommy Gunn. Donnie's his last realistic hope as a boxing manager/surrogate father.
• During their first meeting, Adonis tells Rocky to call Mary Anne to confirm his identity. It's then revealed that Rocky hasn't spoken a word to her since Apollo's funeral. Stallone doesn't have to say anything, you can see the guilt written across his face.
• Rocky rejecting the lymphoma treatment. The Italian Stallion just quietly accepting his fate is devastating.
  • Following that, Rocky's rejection of Adonis's plea for him to seek treatment, ending with Rocky lashing out at him and saying they were never a real family.
• When Rocky finally does agree to the lymphoma treatment Donnie's training is interwoven with scenes of him caring for the weakened Italian Stallion. It can hit particularly close to home for anyone who has been a caretaker for an ailing relative or friend.
• Related to the above, Rocky's monologue beforehand hammers home just how painfully lonely he's become in his old age. Everyone he cares about is gone. Adrian, Paulie, Mickey, Apollo, even Duke and his son... either dead or moved so far away they might as well be. He explicitly tells Adonis that he's decided if "something breaks", he's just not going to fix it, because as far as he's concerned, where he goes to will be better than where he is now. Hearing Rocky Balboa give up on life is nothing short of heartbreaking for any fan of the series.
• When Rocky visits Adonis in jail, after Adonis finds out about Rocky rejecting the treatment. The ensuing talk is rough, especially when Donnie blames Rocky for his father's death.
• Just seeing Donnie yell at Rocky is heartwrenching enough, but afterwards, he breaks down in Broken Tears and angrily tells Rocky to go away, making it clear just how upset he is about the situation.
• "I need to prove I'm not a mistake!"
• While Rocky and Adonis train for the big fight, we are reminded that Rocky is still undergoing treatment. The montage splits from training, to caretaker, as Rocky needs help just to make it to the bathroom to throw up, outside the door we see Adonis on the verge of tears, not wanting him to suffer. It really is no different then a son taking care of their sick father and it's heart wrenching.
• Stallone has stated that Creed is in large part a film about father-son relationships and how they can evolve to change people for the better. He's also admitted that he personally views the film as a dedication to his oldest son, Sage Stallone, who died of a heart attack shortly after Creed entered pre-production.
  "I wanted to pay respect to him and share those feelings with people who have undergone a tremendous loss."
  • Midway through the film, Adonis holds up a picture of Rocky’s son, who has moved to Vancouver to escape the shadow of his famous father. The image, from one of Stallone's Real Life family albums, is of Sylvester in front of a punching bag with Sage, who played Rocky Jr. in Rocky V. Coogler urged a reluctant Stallone to give him the picture since he thought it wouldn’t be right not to have a representation of Sage in the movie.
    “It took a while. I really didn’t want to do it, I swear to you. It’s just too painful. It's rough. There is no closure. There is nothing. The wonderful thing about acting is that it’s a release. I can take some solace in that.”
• When Adonis takes Rocky back to the steps of the Philadelphia Art Museum at the end, watching Rocky struggle so hard to do something that he made so iconic can be tragic.