Movie Notes: Rocky IV
= 2 stars
Starring Sylvester Stallone, Dolph Lundgren, Carl Weathers
Directed by Sylvester Stallone
Synopsis
The tremendous Russian boxer, Ivan Drago (Dolph Lundgren), kills Rocky’s friend, Apollo Creed (Carl Weathers) during a match. Rocky (Sylvester Stallone) must again delay retirement to box Drago, to avenge his friend’s death and challenge the Soviet Union.
The Good
- Filmed in 1985, there’s some nostalgic amusement in the rivalry and mistrust between “us and them” during the depths of the Cold War.
- Drago is certainly Rocky’s most formidable opponent yet, introduced by his pummeling of Creed. Rocky looks uncharacteristically puny when he eventually meets Drago in the ring.
The Bad
- An uncharacteristic dose of high-tech fever — a housekeeper robot and cheesy info-graphics on the Russian training machines.
- Sometimes feels like a weak James Bond installment where Bond / Rocky has to take on a foreign villain to save the world. Is Apollo Creed the equivalent of Q?
- Repetitive: As with the other two sequels, we begin with a pointless recap of the previous installment. Adrian wants Rocky to retire (used in Rocky II), Creed dresses up like a patriotic clown to intimidate his rival (used in Rocky). There are several music segments featuring seriously dated eighties music, including one loaded with clips from the previous three films (do you remember Robert Tepper). Also add in the training sequence and over the top final fight.
- Sylvester Stallone looks unintentionally tired and bored throughout.
Conclusion
Rocky IV is extremely silly and for those who really like cartoony, bombastic action / violence. It’s permanently fixed in the eighties while the first two installments feel rather timeless. Early in Rocky IV, Rocky and Apollo watch an old fight from Rocky II. Great idea.
IMDB: Rocky IV
Wikipedia: Rocky IV
Rotten Tomatoes: Rocky IV 44%
For me, this was *clearly* when the Rocky series jumped the shark. Sorry Mr. Stallone, no matter how you dress it up, killing another major character just wasn’t anything but a summer rerun move. This said with respect, because yeah, “Rocky Balboa” *did* rescue the series a little bit.
Yes, the trend of killing characters is another silly element (mickey in
rocky 3 and creed in this one). That’s actually bit funny since I just
watched Rocky V which was even worse than this one, where if one of the
major characters died (Adrian, Rocky Jr. or Pauly) had died, it would have
been an improvement.
I completely disagree…ROCKY IV is the best of the serie so far !
You are totally wrong on this one. The greatest moment of American sports history is not the miracle on ice. It is when Rocky Balboa knocked out Ivan Drago in the 15th round.