And thus, the Rocky franchise completes its transition from ‘hard hitting, slice of life drama with sports elements’ about a no name bum of a loanshark with a heart of gold who’s is given a chance to be a ‘somebody’ by a cocky professional who underestimated him. To full blown farce sports dramady about a semi blind, retired millionaire with likely brain damage effectively becoming Jesus and declaring world peace and an end to Communism all inside of 90 minutes.

I love Rocky IV very dearly, like ‘Rocky III’ this one was in regular rotation in my house growing up, and even after what could very well be its 30th or 40th full viewing, I still have to absolutely stare in awe at the BALLS of Sylvester Stallone in taking a studios money, and essentially making 4 Rocky music videos and a ‘Sylvester Stallone’ promotional video, and stitching it together into what is very closely approaching an ‘eccentric masterpiece’.

The film picks up some time after the events of ‘Rocky III’ with a recap of the end of that movie (If im guessing, im assuming it takes place a couple of years after…) and Rocky and Apollo are still sparring on and off, Apollos been out of the ring for about 5 years and Rockys pretty much retired and now only fights for fun as a hobby.

That is, until a political upset occurs. The Soviet Union have decided to send one of their fighters to the US to show the talent and technology of Soviet might in the form of ‘Ivan Drago’ a machine of a man who punches with the same pounds of force equal to being hit by a car doing 18-20 mph…for reference, most professionals can punch with the same pounds of force equal to being hit by a car travelling at 7mph…So the guys hardcore. But he’s also considered an ‘amateur’ boxer as he hasnt even performed in a ranked or leagured fight.

As something of a goodwill gesture, an exhibition match is set up (essentially a ‘friendly’) with Drago taking on Apollo Creed with the media running with an ‘East vs West’ type narrative to help keep things a little punchy.

Creeds cocky, he thinks Drago is all bluster and no skill, and if anything doesnt really bother to train that much because…hey; its a friendly…Apollo Creed is then promptly flat out murdered 2 rounds in when its revealed that Drago IS in fact a killing machine. This leads Rocky to take on Drago, not just to avenge his friend, but to put the Russians in their place and to teach the world that the USA IS in fact A-Okay! in a RIP roaring finale that will make anyone who survived the Reagan era feel like getting an Eagle motif painted onto the hood of their car…I know I did…

Whether this is a particularly well made film will obviously fall to personal preference. I feel if im speaking objectively, no. No it’s not a very well made film…but SUBJECTIVELY…I bloody love this film.

My big issue with ‘Rocky III’ was that it was kind of trying to walk the tightrope of having to occupy the world of the first two Rocky films, while ALSO having to suspend SOME degree of belief, becuase by the end of ‘Rocky II’, Rocky should have never gone anywhere near a set of boxing gloves again…Hell, the FIGHT in ‘Rocky II’ would NEVER have happened in the real world after the injuries sustained…But because ‘Rocky IV’ is using ‘Rocky III’ as its baseline, and Rocky III managed to throw off some of the shackles that kept the series grounded to reality. ‘Rocky IV’ is able to now FULLY release itself into a world of fantasy, where its full of evil Russians, Robotic wives and James Brown numbers. Indeed, if you watched the original Rocky and then jumped to this one, you’d be forgiven for thinking someone had spiked you.

The script isnt so much a traditional narrative, more a series of ‘happenings’ intercut with music video style training montages. the core plot of Rocky avenging his friend and representing America on the world stage isnt really explored all that deeply, what i’ve written there is basically as deep as it begins and ends. All our characters have had ANY kind of complexity or intreague sanded clean off. we’re now in a fully ‘Flanderized’ universe, where Rocky is the good guy, Drago is the bad guy and Paulie is just a cookie character with a robot wife, and not a serial abuser with mysoginistic, racist and homophobic tendancies. T

The world this script inhabits doesnt feel real, it feels like it exists under the oddly set pretence that this story needs for it to exist. the pacing is incredibly stop/start, we have AT LEAST 3 full blown training montages and music videos, the ending is frankly ludicrous AND hilarious in equal measures and the tone is so blatently jingoistic to that specific flavour of mid 80s American Nationalism, that watching it tonight, I absolutely understood how the USA has ended up in the position it currently sits in. Its a world of simple answers, very little questions and largely blind acceptance. and I cant help but watch this film with a HUGE smirk on my face throughout for just how wild it is that this actually got made.

I mean, I shouldnt be TOO surprised, Stallone co-wrote ‘First Blood’ a film dealing with topics like ‘PTSD’, Mental health, processing trauma and the horrors of the Vietnam war…and then followed it up with the screenplay for ‘First Blood: Part 2’ a film that basically goes ‘Yeh…mental healths bad innit…GUNS!!!!!!!!!’ he’s not a subtle film maker is what im getting at.

Outside of that though, the direction and cine is striking, VERY heavily inspired by media content from that specific period of the 80s. its sharp, crisp, colourful and focussed direction that isnt afraid to experiment and showcase the ‘new way’ of film making for the MTV Generation. the colour useage blending blues, whites and Reds SCREAMS patriotism from every inch of this celluloid. its a remarkable work on a visual level, let down by, what I feel is probably the ropiest edit in the series to date. Nothing quite flows right, they’re heavily reliant on stock footage from previous films to stitch this thing together, cuts are too soon, or not soon enough. Its so bad that Stallone himself had to try and recut the film a couple of years ago, fixing some things…but also making a few bits MUCH worse (Cutting out Paulies large headed robot wife in the new cut was a sin.)

At this point in time, everyone apart from Carl Weathers has seemingly forgotten how to play their characters, Stallone is just playing his ‘Macho’ persona for most of the runtime, with one touching scene with Adrien being about as good as it gets, Burt Young as Paulie feels less like a performance and more like candid outtakes of a guy on vacation. Weathers is sincere and drags ‘Creed’ back to similar vibes from ‘Rocky II’ but maybe a bit paired back, I thought he was probably the best ‘Genuine’ performance here, outside of maybe Dolph Lundgren as ‘Ivan Drago’ who is EASILY one of the best villains not just in this franchise, but in 80s cinema all together. a silent, cold and methodical machine of a man, and a quick shorthand for ruthlessness. he’s fantastic.

And the soundtrack? Favourite of the whole damn franchise, all killer, no filler. Its rock solid, with my only complaint being that we didnt get a Georgio Mororder rendition of ‘Gonna fly now’. It feels at times almost like Stallone was given the score first and told to build a movie around it, rather than vice versa just for how prominant and front and center the score is for this thing. I love it honestly.

‘Rocky IV’ is very much a film of its time, and the fact its SO bedded into that specific era, coupled with its total eccentricity, has really helped cement it as an iconic picture of that decade. and I feel rightly so. its a totally different beast to the rest of the franchise and absolutely worth seeing in my opinion, purely for just HOW simultaineously messy, yet coordinated it is as a work. Probably the cleanest example of ‘Organised Chaos’ i’ve seen in a mainstream picture.

source https://letterboxd.com/tytdreviews/film/rocky-iv-rocky-vs-drago-the-ultimate-directors/