Rocky IV (1985) Review

 

Rocky IV (1985)

Rocky IV follows Rocky Balboa, who after an exhibition fight left Apollo dead, seeks revenge in the ring against the cold-blooded Russian Ivan Drago, in a fight for Apollo and for America as a whole. 

Few movies have the distinction of saying they single handedly ended the Cold War, but one exists—the almighty Rocky IV. Now if you thought the third movie really made the shift towards being a boxing movie, this cranks that up to a thousand, as pretty much the whole film is kindling for the firefight to come. In one of the most heartbreaking scenes in the franchise, and an image that has been seared into my skull for years, Apollo’s death at the hands of Drago puts Rocky down a dangerous path, hellbent on revenge. He has this look about him that could burn through steel and now more than ever, there is an unmatched killer instinct about him where this fight feels personal. 

Cue what feels like half a movie full of flashbacks and training montages, which are just peak 80s and your left with the first true film in the series to sacrifice any real development at the hands of the fight to come. That’s all that matters and that’s very evident as much of the rest of the movie feels shoehorned in around it to just fill in the blanks. That said however, the final bout doesn’t disappoint a bit, feeling like a juggernaut match for the ages against two steel fortresses. This is also one of the first of these movies to contain real boxing (which left Stallone in the ICU at one point) and so you feel every single slamming punch after another, with the unbreakable Rocky finally coming out on top and what is still one of the craziest pieces of American propaganda to make it’s way out of the Cold War. 

We get another fantastic cast, featuring Brigitte Nielsen, Burt Young, Tony Burton, Talia Shire, Carl Weathers, Dolph Lundgren, and Sylvester Stallone. Weathers on-screen death is still, all these years later, gut wrenching but it really rips a focus and determination out of Stallone we’ve never seen before and he puts in a fantastic performance that we’ve grown used to. Lundgren’s turn as the menacing Drago is also superb, (and completely unrecognizable) giving us Rocky’s most dangerous opponent in terrifying strides. 

Rocky IV, directed once again by Stallone, somehow pulls off the unimaginable and pits Rocky against the entire Soviet Union, and while it leaves a lot to be desired in terms of pure story, there is nothing like seeing Rocky get pummeled for 15 rounds and keep coming back for more.

7.8/10