Rocky IV: Rocky vs Drago

In 1976 Sylvester Stallone brought to the screen, in my opinion, one of the cinemas greatest and most enduring characters, Rocky Balboa. 9 years later, in 1985, Rocky comes face to face with Soviet super-athlete Ivan Drago (Dolph Lundgren) in Rocky IV. Drago is a Soviet propaganda weapon designed to show the west how their expertise has created the ultimate boxer. After an exhibition bout, that sets Drago against Apollo Creed (Carl Weathers), goes tragically wrong, Rocky heads to the Soviet Union to face, not only a seemingly indestructible opponent but also the might of the Soviet political machine and a hostile crowd.

However, while Rocky IV was the most financially successful of the franchise, it was one of the least critically successful ones, been thin on story and very big on training sequence montage. It was certainly a film of its time, playing up to west v east suspicions with plenty of big hair and big ballads. But Stallone felt there was a different story to tell so 36 years later Stallone has revisited and reworked it to bring us his director’s cut.

To be honest, not all of it works, which is not a surprise as he is ultimately limited by Rocky IV itself with its clunky dialogue and politics. But it does succeed in making some real changes to the storytelling, especially in the first half. Fleshing out some of the central characters Apollo (Carl Weathers), Adrian (Talia Shire) who we see as much stronger and opinionated, Paulie (Burt Young) and Apollo’s coach Duke( Tony Burton), where we better understand his relationship with Apollo and Rocky. While Drago is perhaps not given the depth it was hoped for, there are subtle changes to show more humanity to his character. Perhaps, humorously, while many characters found more depth, Brigitte Nielson’s Ludmilla was pretty much sidelined.

The Russian training montage remains and the fight scenes maintain their Rocky qualities and there is an interesting change right at the end, perhaps a reflection on Today’s political landscape than that on 1985.

All of this does add up to a different telling of the story, even if not all of it works.

I’m a big fan of Rocky and he is and will remain a great film character. It was a joy to see his 80’s incarnation on the big screen again. But this cut, while interesting, is still restricted by the original story so isn’t wholly successful. But if you love a bit of Rocky then you won’t be disappointed, get down to the cinema and cheer on Phillies finest one more time.