Rocky IV
Balboa vs. Communism.
That’s literally the basics of what makes Rocky IV a great movie. Mind you it’s not about that fact that he won or lost it’s all about the fact that Sylvester Stallone truly attempted to battle the Russians with a Rocky film. I mean what was the mission here? What would have made this movie even better was if their was a Rambo movie released at the same time that basically showed Rambo sneaking into Russia pretending to be Rocky Balboa showing that Rambo used the events of Rocky IV to take down the iron curtain.
Going into the movie with Rocky as the great American hero just makes you realize this is going to be a ham served with cheese and with that in mind you want to make sure you season it with a grain of salt. It’s the best way to enjoy Rocky.
So in what feels like a watered down Sci-fi plot, the Soviet Union builds the perfect boxer, Ivan Drago (perfectly preformed by Dolph Lundgren), and after a sparing match with Balboa, Apollo Creed is hungry to get back in the ring, so he spars with Drago in one of the most embarrassingly funny moments in movie history. Creed dances across the stage to a James Brown song, wearing the dumbest outfit ever, only to get his ass handed to him by Drago. It’s suppose to be the most dramatic moment in the movie, the moment that makes Balboa train hard to seek revenge for his fallen friend (its so like a Rambo movie). Yet, whenever I see this moment I can’t help to think if this was a real sporting event and the Godfather of Soul had to be interviewed afterwards about watching Creed Trollip like an imbecile into the ring while he performed, only to get beaten to death somehow, just makes me laugh really hard.
It’s funny cause in the Creed spinoff they make it more dramatic that Adonis father died in the ring, but I wonder if Adonis actually saw the footage. So Adonis Creed was born around this time and Apollo’s wife discovered her dead husband’s affair with that led to the bastard Creed, but what confuses me about Creed’s plot is that according to Rocky I II and III, Creed and his wife have children, at least one boy and one girl. Now I understand that if they use the kids that make a cameo in the 1st movie the boy would be in his 40s at the time Creed was made which would make him too old to be getting in the ring (he’d die like his daddy, no doubt), but Creed never mentions these kids at all. Even if Apollo’s wife is different form the wife he had in the 1st two Rocky movies, which would make sense and not be surprising at all, Adonis does have at least two siblings which I now need to see in the next installment of Creed.
I did love how Tony Burton as Apollo Creed’s coach seeks revenge on Drago by becoming Rocky’s corner man, thought that was perfect.
Well anyway, Rocky goes to Russia (without Rambo) and somehow becomes American’s greatest weapon ageist the Red. Once again Sly writes and directs a perfect sequel. It’s a movie met to make some serious dough assuring Sly’s top at the box office and it does it by exploiting America’s superficial pride, using a series of well scored montages.
Rocky famously says in the “Ring if I can change you can change” Yet for Sly, I see no difference between Rocky III and Rocky IV, the formula works well on both and makes both movies awesome.
