Rocky IV (1985)

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Rocky IV (1985)

5/10

Starring

Sylvester Stallone

Talia Shire

Carl Weathers

Dolph Lundgren

Directed by Sylvester Stallone

If he dies, he dies…

The above is a popular phrase from this movie and it was uttered by Ivan Drago (Dolph Lundgren) after he knocked out and eventually kills Apollo Creed (Carl Weathers) making this the last of the Rocky filmsto feature Carl Weathers.

Just like Rocky III the movie is a direct to the fight film, with nothing much happening in between. Rocky IIIhad Balboa (Sylvester Stallone) face a fighter earlier in the minutes and then we get to see nothing much in between till the last fight when he had to take down Clubber Lang (Mr. T). Here Drago kills Apollo in an exhibition match, which causes Rocky to take him up in a fight in Russia where Drago had to be taught a lesson by the Italian Stallion.

The fight Choreography is better here than what we saw in Rocky III, but I still stand and say it is nothing like the fights we saw displayed in both Rocky and Rocky II.

The movie plot had the Russians bring in a fighter that they say can take on anyone, like it is said above the fighter ended up killing Apollo and Rocky goes for a revenge battle for the death of his friend Apollo Creed.

The movie is written and directed by Sylvester Stallone himself, and it was a commercial success making more than 10 times its $28 million production budget. It was received with mixed reviews, but it stands better than the last Rocky released 3 years before it.

The movie did have some production hitches, like when Stallone had to come in and end a dispute that came about between Weathers and Lundgren, which came about when Lundgren threw Weathers into the corner hard and Weathers walked off the set angry.

Also the production faced another hitch when Stallone decide that he wanted to film a true fight, and he sparred with Lundgren. During the sparring Lundgren hit Stallone hard on the chest and his heart hit his breast bone causing it to swell, and leading to Stallone getting hospitalized.

The movie didn’t boast of much as it was short and just about Rocky’s revenge, the whole Drama from the previous Rocky and Rocky IIare not present here also, and this movie didn’t have all the motor mouth motion of Clubber Lang, which was kind of fun to see in the third Rocky film.

Rocky IV to me should have been the end of the Rocky Series, but the financial benefit of the series led to the producers making another Rocky, which ended up being panned by the critics.