The 15 best sports movie sequels

The "Air Bud" and "Bring it On" franchises' straight-to-video/DVD archive notwithstanding, the sports sequel genre is not especially deep. Hence, the Scott Bakula-takes-over-"Major League" inclusion. The 1998 movie involves former Cleveland regulars Pedro Cerrano, Roger Dorn, Rube Baker and Taka Tanaka. But Bakula's manager character, Gus Cantrell, is center stage, and the former Tribe World Series starters are merely background fodder. While the plot of a Triple-A team feuding with its big league club — the Twins in this case — is interesting, it feels largely detached from the "Major League" universe. 

This is a rapid descent for the Ducks, who go from repping Team USA to comprising a high school junior varsity roster in this 1996 movie. They also must adapt to a new coach after Gordon Bombay resumes his law career, prompting a tense farewell scene between the exiting Duck boss and Charlie Conway. The "D3" plot is a bit goofy, with the Ducks — who retain a maniacal attachment to that mascot — battling the varsity squad to see who represents the school. The end result would seemingly leave a host of talented 17- and 18-year-old hockey players without a place to play, so that's weird, but this is not entirely unwatchable. 

There just isn't enough material to avoid including this, and it's not like we're talking Ernest-plays-basketball-level bad here. Notable pluses from the 1990 film: early-'90s rap montages, a young Kevin Connolly getting his comeuppance from Rocky Jr., the hilariously antagonistic post-fight presser where the youngest heavyweight champion in history is under siege. And the street-fight ending — with Rocky firing off low-key great tough-guy lines — is not entirely unwelcome. Not-so-good: Rocky or Tommy Gunn saying anything, Paulie as Santa Claus, the beginning when Robert Balboa being much older makes it look like the Balboas spent 1985-1990 in Russia. 

Released in 2017, the second "Goon" includes some interesting twists. After Seann William Scott's enforcer character is knocked out by a better minor league hockey fighter, he finds himself relegated to insurance sales before taking part in a fights-only hockey league. A switch to southpaw helps Doug "The Thug" Glatt (Scott) return to fighting in actual hockey games — where his newfound nemesis awaits — to mark another strange plot point for a unique pair of films. It isn't as funny as the first movie, but the likes of Alison Pill and Liev Schreiber help prop this one up.

"Karate Kid, Part II" strays from sports-movie classification. The third installment (1989) brings back the tournament format, albeit with a strange bracket allowing Daniel LaRusso a bye into the finals. The Cobra Kai bosses — John Kreese and Terry Silver — exhaust considerable resources to impede a kid's path to another All-Valley title. "Part III" also does not feature many good Daniel-san decisions. An oddly jittery LaRusso abandons college to help fund Mr. Miyagi's bonsai shop and trains at the Cobra Kai gym, where Silver convinces him to perform intentionally painful exercises. The ringer fighter Silver hires also nearly throws LaRusso off a cliff. This flawed film receives a preposterously detailed examination in the latter "Cobra Kai" seasons.

Sylvester Stallone bounces back in 2006's sixth "Rocky" film. A better-reviewed movie than some of this franchise's predecessors, "Rocky Balboa" just does not supply the stakes the Philadelphia legend's fights once brought. This film does well to incorporate mainstream media — an important component "Creed" used later — with the simulated fight between Balboa and Mason "The Line" Dixon, a unique way to stir the pot. A nearly 60-year-old Stallone's 10-round fight with a less-than-mythical opponent, though, leaves this a bit lacking despite real-life 175-pound champion Antonio Tarver portraying Dixon.

"D2" (1994) takes some liberties at the outset. Gordon Bombay goes from peewee hockey coach to Team USA's Junior Goodwill Games leader and is allowed to fill three-fourths of the roster with his Ducks players — even the figure skaters and the kid with glasses. A bitter rivalry forms between the U.S. and Iceland (and dialed-in villain coach Wolf "The Dentist" Stansson), and the double-elimination format creates an interesting arc where the teams meet twice at the Games (which were evidently the must-see sporting event of that summer). There is enough contrast from "D1" to make this a fun rewatch, and it can be argued it beats the original for entertainment value.

The 1977 "Bad News Bears" sequel takes some strange turns. The Bears, random California-based league champions, book a game in the Astrodome against a Houston-area team for the right to play in Japan. Morris Buttermaker is out of the picture by this point; William Devane plays the Bears manager. The game doubles as a showcase for the then-new indoor venue, including cameos by 1970s Houston Astros. The strangely structured sequel is famous for the "Let them play!" chant started by an Astro (in front of a packed house) when time constraints give the Bears' opponent a two-inning victory. While the chant succeeds, these teams still decide matters in a four-inning game.

Rotten Tomatoes, a bit harshly, measures "Major League II" at 5% after the first's 82% consensus. A noticeable quality drop exists, but this is still a watchable follow-up. The 1994 sequel traverses the 1989 classic's trajectory — Cleveland starts really bad, becomes good mid-montage, then faces its rival — only blandly. But Randy Quaid's ahead-of-its-time distraught fan/stalker character, rookie catcher Rube Baker's quirks, and rightfully appreciated villain Jack Parkman (David Keith) help compensate for the lead actors — some of whom having gained extensive weight in Cleveland's 1989-90 offseason — being saddled with a much worse script.

A far more understated "Rocky" sequel compared to what followed, 1979's "Rocky II" gets a bit lost. It more closely resembles the iconic first film compared to the loonier 1980s offerings. This isn't a bad idea from a critical standpoint, but it fails to capture attention to the degree the '80s Rockys do. The plodding sequel does not feel like a sports movie until nearly an hour-and-a-half elapses, and the training montage and Creed-Balboa II are somewhat detached from the rest of the picture. But this ranking is debatable, since "II" is a better (albeit less entertaining) movie than at least one of the sequels ranked above it.

Perhaps a forced "Rocky IV" sequel, 2018's non-Ryan Coogler-directed follow-up could have gone much worse. Bulking Michael B. Jordan's Adonis Creed up to heavyweight and pitting him against two rivals — including a second Drago somehow more menacing than the first — makes for a more detailed sports-movie narrative. Rocky VIII drags between fights 2 and 3, but giving viewers three bouts (and thus three Jim Lampley-anchored HBO Boxing broadcasts) in the first place is a win. The in-ring work hovers below the "Creed" level, but the Dragos make more nuanced villains this time. And Tessa Thompson's intro lands on the Mt. Rushmore of cinematic ring walks.

The third Creed effort provides a better look at the boxing business, with the protagonist shifting to a promoter role. Sylvester Stallone's absence obviously does not go unnoticed, but Jonathan Majors offers one of the best Rocky-Creed-universe adversaries. Understandably bitter over spending the bulk of his prime in prison, Dame Anderson presents a multidimensional villain who is under-showcased. The movie shifts off the Creed-Balboa script by devoting important time to a fight not involving its lead, and though casting real-life junior middleweight Jose Benavidez as a heavyweight champ is curious, the friends-to-rivals arc gives "Creed III" more depth than the Dragos' return brought.

A bridge from the more believable first two films to what immediately followed, "Rocky III" is an undeniably good sports movie. Of course, the buildup to Balboa-Lang I telegraphs that fight's result. But confidence-is-shot Rocky turns out to produce prime cinematic exploration real estate, and the Rocky-Apollo Creed friendship angle further elevates the 1982 movie's place in sports cinema lore. While the workout montage depicting Rocky shaving approximately a half-second off his beach 40-yard dash time is insane, it did give viewers that incomparable shallow-water embrace, making the lunacy worthwhile. 

"Rocky IV" tiptoes along a suspended-reality cliff (OK, it probably plunges off it) to produce an essential time capsule of mid-1980s Americana. Four montages and two exaggerated entrances make for a borderline music video that leaves limited dialogue time. Given this franchise's issues with words at times, that wasn't a bad choice. Paulie's robot, which is incomprehensibly cut from Sly Stallone's 2021 "Rocky IV" remix, gets nearly as many lines as Ivan Drago. But the Dolph Lundgren-portrayed Russian remains a storied villain. Of course this 1985 Cold War epic is not as good as the previous three Rockys, but if viewers lean in, the final product is far more entertaining. This was the "Rocky" universe on elite drugs.

A sequel coming 25 years after the original was once a rarity. Now, not as much. But Martin Scorsese's 1986 sequel to "The Hustler" was not merely a cash grab like some of today's follow-ups. Paul Newman collected the Best Actor Oscar for the same "Fast Eddie" Felson character that garnered him a nomination for the 1961 movie. This movie is not Tom Cruise's best sports work — that would be "Jerry Maguire" — but the hotshot shtick he rode to 1980s superstardom beams here. Involving neither Rocky Balboa nor a straight-to-video path, "The Color of Money" is an important chapter in sports sequel history. The Oscar also helps.

Michael B. Jordan and director Ryan Coogler teamed up to make "Fruitvale Station" and "Black Panther." But 2015's "Creed" was their best collaboration. Yes, it is obviously a sequel despite having no number next to it. "Creed" delivers masterful in-ring sequences. Donnie Johnson's one-take round with Leo Sporino (real-life middleweight Gabe Rosado) towers above nearly every boxing scene before it, and countless craft subtleties make this barely resemble a "Rocky" movie. This nine-movie franchise delving into the light heavyweight division and pound-for-pound rankings also helps enhance "Creed." It stunningly reinvigorated a fading franchise and is one of the great sports movies.