Alright, we have now arrived at the 1985 epic, over the top entry in the series, “Rocky IV,” which is a Christmas sports movie. The movie starts with two boxing gloves crashing at one another. The Balboas are enjoying their life with Apollo as their friend, and Paulie even has a robot that Rocky bought for him. How odd is that? I don’t know anyone today who owns a robot. Apollo is still as arrogant as he was in the first movie, and it shows when Soviet boxer, Ivan Drago, played by Dolph Lundgren, comes to town and wants a match. Apollo accepts his challenge so that he can actually win the match, or so he thinks. Drago is not a boxer to get cocky over because he is like a super-boxer who has been taking anabolic steroids and when he punches, it weighs 1850 pounds. Just like Drago’s promoter, trainer and manager, Nicolai Koloff, played by Michael Pataki, says, “Whatever he hits, he destroys.” Nostalgia Critic called Drago a video game character and is basically a giant dragon for Rocky to fight, since his last name is one letter off from "dragon." Also, the hot Dutch actress Brigitte Nielsen plays Drago’s wife, Ludmilla Vobet Drago.
Apollo’s entrance this time is Living in America, performed by the late Godfather of Soul, James Brown, which perfectly showcases his patriotic self-centeredness, as well as one of the most memorable scenes in the movie. The match is a complete tragedy since Drago actually kills Apollo at the second round. Rocky could have thrown in the towel, and even tried to convince Apollo to not fight, but Apollo is so arrogant that he didn’t even listen to his friend. You could call Drago heartless when he says, “If he dies, he dies.”
Rocky instantly challenges Drago to a match to avenge the murder of Apollo. Many people who have seen this movie say that this is where the movie becomes very predictable and cheesy. If you are one of those people who over-analyze and over-think movies, you will miss how entertaining this movie is. Drago is the perfect follow-up to Clubber Lang, who exchanges his loud-mouth, cocky attitude for his strength. Drago doesn't have many lines, but he says a lot with his facial expressions. You could compare this to a comic book by comparing Drago to one of the comic book supervillains, like Bane. Drago is very terrifying and you would fear for Rocky because if Drago killed Apollo, imagine if he did the same thing to Rocky and made this the last entry in the series. Even Rocky’s son, played by Rocky Krakoff, says, “If a big, giant man wanted to beat me up, I’d be really scared.” You said it best, kid, because I would agree with you.
Many people also complain that this movie loses what made the first movie so lovable, and I agree with them. However, this movie is lovable in its own way. This movie is full of montages with some of the best training scenes and one of the soundtracks that makes you want to go on a training montage of your own while listening to this soundtrack. I'm actually listening to the soundtrack right now while I'm typing up this review. Also, this is the only movie that Bill Conti did not compose the music. Instead, it’s the main composer from the “Transformers” animated movie, Vince DiCola. His training montage music and War are awesome, but Survivor also has some great songs in here, like Hearts on Fire, No Easy Way Out, and Burning Heart.
This is distant from the first movie and is a change in the atmosphere, but remember, Rocky is in Russia, not Philadelphia. He’s away from home, and trains with farming equipment, which makes him stronger than ever, and even runs up a mountain while shouting, “Drago” at the top. Duke is now helping Rocky train for this match, since Duke trained Apollo and is training Rocky in the same way he trained Apollo. It’s not as bad as everyone says it is. In fact, this movie makes your adrenaline rush and blood pump faster than it did in the third movie.
Now the only thing I have left to talk about is the match. Drago makes his entrance to Russia’s National Anthem, the intimidation starts with the eye contact, Drago says his famous line, “I must break you,” slams his gloves down on Rocky’s, and the match starts. Rocky quite possibly takes the worse punches he has ever taken in all his years of boxing. Drago doesn’t even let him stand for a second, but keeps knocking him on the mat or up against the turnbuckles. Apparently in Russia, there’s not three-knockdown rule, the referee must have not heard of a KO or TKO, so I guess the fight could go on until one of them kills one another. Also, how does Rocky survive all 15 rounds when Apollo only lasted two? Especially since Rocky takes “way” more punches than Apollo did. Who cares, it’s one of the best fights I have ever seen in a movie.
When I first saw James Rolfe’s review on the Rocky series, he said that this movie ended the Cold War. As I mentioned, since this is predictable, you could probably guess that Rocky wins the crowd over while the match is going on and wins in the last round by KO. Rocky gives a speech that eases the tension between the Russians and the Americans. However, a little note: this movie did not end the Cold War. It helped, but that’s not how it ended. It ended when Mikhail Gorbachev used all of the money on creating deadly, nuclear weapons, and caused Russia to go bankrupt. He tried to bring the economy up and bring democracy, but he thought that if he kept making weapons, it would help. Especially since Ronald Reagan ordered Gorbachev to tear down the Berlin Wall. Although Rocky’s speech was one of the best, especially with him saying, “If I can change and you can change, everybody can change.”
In the end, this is one of the most entertaining, macho movies ever made. You might say that this is over the top and ridiculous, but you’re missing the point. Real men love this movie, and it’s a ton of fun to watch. For those who say this is weird, stupid, and completely self-indulgent, you're missing the enjoyment of this film. There is a joy to the silliness and over-the-top ways. Yes, this isn't taken as seriously as the first two films, but you got to love the passion they put into this movie when trying to make it serious. Yes, it may not succeed at being serious, but it tried hard, and the energy and commitment that's put into this film is part of the fun, despite people saying it fails hard. I at least give them credit for at least trying, and you should to. This is one that you have to see, I highly recommend it, it’s better than two and three.
Look out tomorrow when I look at the weakest entry in the series in “Rocky Week.”
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