Rocky IV Reviews

In the ‘Rocky’ franchise, this movie usually belongs to the guilty pleasures. Indeed, the 5th installment is universally despised by most of the viewers but this 4th movie occasionally gets some love. To start with, it was the highest grossing film in the Rocky series, reaching a rather impressive $300 million worldwide gross but it doesn’t mean that it was any good, it just meant that they would make another sequel for sure. Anyway, personally, I really didn’t like this flick. Sure, compare to the following sequel, it was almost a masterpiece but I seriously got bored. Indeed, now we are far from the gritty realism of ‘Rocky’, and instead, we get once again the same old story (Rocky gets in trouble, you get a good old training montage, he gets on the ring and, of course, wins the fight against his current nemesis). By now, I was pretty much done with this formula and to see how they added some patriotism/propaganda to the whole thing made this movie even more pathetic. I understand that the fans just enjoy this for what it is, some brainless entertainment, but I just can’t share their enthusiasm.To conclude, I really didn’t like this flick and I don’t think it is really worth a look, except of course if you are a die-hard fan of this franchise.

For me, the Rocky franchise was on a great role with 3 successful films that I did really enjoy. However, that role ended with Rocky IV and there are many reasons for this. Mostly, because I didn't really like the story and I thought the characters were just appalling! The final fight was so predictable although there were one or two unexpected moments, Rocky IV felt more like a desperate grasp at money and went out of hand so it lost taste and originality. On many occasions, it felt like a revenge film more than a boxing drama like all of the others are. One bit of credit I will give Rocky IV is that it really did show the real dangers of boxing itself and what damage can be occurred in the ring no matter how big, small, heavy, light, tall or short one is.


Heavyweight boxing champion Rocky Balboa accompanies his friend Apollo Creed, who will be in a match against Ivan Drago, a Russian boxer who has been scientifically trained, using high tech equipment. When Drago kills Apollo in the match, Rocky blames himself for Apollo's death, and promises to get revenge on Drago in the ring, in the name of Apollo and the United States. Against the wishes of his wife Adrian, Rocky is off to the USSR to take on Drago, and hires Apollo's former manager Duke to help him prepare for the fight. While Drago enhances his amazing punching power using high-tech equipment, Rocky toughens up under the guidance of Duke in a compound in the frozen Soviet countryside, with his mind set on destroying Drago.


Sylvester Stallone has made two performances by the same actor of the same character earn one Academy Award Best Actor nomination and a Golden Raspberry Award Worst Actor nomination possible and I didn't really think that after he earned the Academy Award nomination, he could sink down this low as Rocky Balboa but unfortunately he really did with this fourth instalment. The Rocky character in this fourth film made the entire film cheesy and that only took one guy. I mean, his pride felt empty after Mickey and when Apollo took over. To be honest, I thought that Rocky IV was more about Apollo than Rocky himself. It's like Rocky and Apollo switched places from the third film until a tragedy occurs. However, that tragedy was too much like the one in the third film and what Rocky did afterwards. As the films carry on, Rocky's opponents get rougher and harder to beat but as far as the opponents with strong character, it goes slightly downfall after the second one. What a lame boxing opponent Ivan Drago really was! For one thing, he barely said a single word and he just stood and that was it. He literally had no personality apart from the words "I… will… break… you" and that was it. I mean, just because one guy has a bigger build and is taller than his opponent, that doesn't make him completely a better fighter in terms of game play and tactics during a fight. Admittedly, I do find Dolph Lungdren a great action hero but was an idiot in the fourth Rocky. I'll tell you who he reminded me of in this film: Herr Stamper in the James Bond film Tomorrow Never Dies apart from Stamper had a personality and had character whereas Ivan Drago didn't. Talia Shire was quite weak in this one too as Adrian Balboa but Burt Young was pretty good as always as Paulie.


Sly, what in the hell happened here?! I'm sorry to have to say this but you were an absolute lazy arse with this one and didn't really read into it very much especially the script and the development of the characters. Now, this is where Sylvester Stallone is a bad director; even in the boxing scenes and we have seen him impress us with solid directing in those scenes in the other Rocky films except the first and fifth one. What a cheesy script! I mean, in the first three, Rocky was a determined winner but then there were people saying ''If he dies, then he dies''. I mean, what the f***?!


Overall, Rocky IV is a major disappointment to the franchise which, for me, makes it the only bad Rocky film. It went out of proportion most of the time and went really cheesy. Admittedly, there are some that are bound to find either the fourth or fifth Rocky film a guilty pleasure. As for me, I only find Rocky V a guilty pleasure, Rocky IV was just shit. I absolutely loved the series until this one came out. Rocky IV was like a big push backwards against the other three films but it is a good job that Rocky V was better even though that wasn't brilliant either and Rocky Balboa aka Rocky VI.

"Adrian always tells the truth. No, maybe I can't win. Maybe the only thing I can do is just take everything he's got. But to beat me, he's going to have to kill me. And to kill me, he's gonna have to have the heart to stand in front of me. And to do that, he's got to be willing to die himself. I don't know if he's ready to do that. I don't know."

By this point in the Rocky series, Sylvester Stallone had transformed the once sincere and humble Rocky Balboa into a muscular action hero who has more in common with Arnold Schwarzenegger than Robert De Niro or Al Pacino. Despite this, 1985's Rocky IV is a guilty pleasure - this mind-blowingly ridiculous film is easy to enjoy due to the inclusion of so much testosterone and cheese. In this sense, the quality of Rocky IV drastically varies depending on how you perceive it. As a Rocky movie, Rocky IV is abysmal - the human element has been drained from the series, and the flick contains a number of scenes which the original Rocky from 1976 would've found repugnant. However, if judged as an '80s action film, Rocky IV scrapes a passing grade - it's just so damn entertaining, with a barrage of enjoyable pop songs, a few exhilarating boxing bouts, and manliness seeping from every pore.

In the film, a Soviet boxer named Ivan Drago (Lundgren) travels to the United States hoping to make his mark on the country. Drago is a superbly conditioned athlete who was scientifically trained in the USSR, and his people propose a fight against World Heavyweight Champion Rocky Balboa (Stallone). However, Rocky's good friend and former adversary Apollo Creed (Weathers) wants to be the first man to battle Drago in the ring. Unfortunately, Drago is too strong for Creed, and Creed is killed during the match. Rocky blames himself for the death due to his failure to throw in the towel before the crucial moment, and in an act of retribution he challenges Drago to a boxing match. With Apollo's former trainer Duke (Burton) by his side - along with his brother-in-law Paulie (Young) - Balboa travels to the USSR in order to prepare to take on Ivan Drago.

For Rocky IV, it's clear that Stallone forgot about all of the elements which made the original film such an unmitigated masterpiece. Rocky was a delightful, affecting movie populated with unique, lovable characters. Balboa was a clichéd character to be sure, but his colourful language and humble disposition made it easy to overlook the clichés. Rocky II retained these charms, but Rocky III marked a tremendous decline in quality for the franchise. And then along came Rocky IV. Punctuated by countless MTV-style musical montages, Rocky IV boasts a brilliant soundtrack, but the series has come a long way (in the wrong direction) from the human story that was the original Rocky. In fact, the title should have been Rocky IV: The Music Video, as more time is spent progressing the plot through lengthy, heavily-edited '80s-style montages than scenes of dialogue, drama or character development. At about 90 minutes, Rocky IV is the shortest entry in the series, and it's very lean. Similar to Rocky III, the antagonist comes out of nowhere, with no background or even a motivation. Meanwhile, you'll only root for Rocky based on his appearances in the first three movies.

After Rocky III, the pressure was on Sly to deliver another Rocky film before he became too old for the part (how ironic, looking back), and Rocky IV is therefore plagued with all the hallmarks of a rush-job. The dialogue is incidental and seems improvised, the acting is as mechanical as Paulie's robot, and the narrative is so painfully by-the-numbers that even those unfamiliar with the series will be able to figure out the ending a mile away. Also, Stallone appears to have cheated because he got away without actually telling a story - Rocky IV is a couple of fight scenes sandwiched between half a dozen montages. But fortunately, the film is not without its entertainment value. The formula still works, and Rocky IV is slickly-produced. The Balboa vs. Drago boxing fight is still fist-pumping and goosebump-inducing, even if it's the furthest thing from realism.

And then there's Dolph Lundgren, who looks more dopey than menacing as Ivan Drago. Dolph is a woeful actor, but at least his presence is tolerable and he delivered a few classic lines ("I must break you" is rock solid gold). However, Brigitte Nielsen - Stallone's wife of the period - was horribly miscast, and her Russian accent falls somewhere in between "woeful" and "offensive to actual Russians". In addition, Rocky IV is imbued with blatant, in-your-face jingoism which is about as subtle as one of Drago's jabs. Tunes like Living in America are on the soundtrack, while the stereotyping is offensively simplistic (USA = Good, and Russia = Evil). The pro-American propaganda is so prominent that another more appropriate title would have been Rocky IV: The Italian Stallion Enters The Cold War. Such content may have been relevant in 1985, but it's a problem that there's more flag-waving than human drama here. Added to this, it's clear that Stallone's stardom got to his head and made him slightly delusional - when the Soviets begin cheering for Rocky at the end, it's impossible not to roll one's eyes in disbelief.

Yet, while Rocky IV is atrocious from any respectable critical standpoint, it all works beautifully. The film is disposable franchise filmmaking at its best, and an exhilarating guilty pleasure - it's difficult not to love the film on some kind of juvenile level. The Rocky series had definitely run its course by this point, but Rocky IV is enjoyable if you approach it in the right mindset.

6.2/10