Review of Rocky IV (1985) by Mark D — 11 May 2012

By this 4th entry, the Rocky series had begun to lose its steam, devolving from the intensely personal character drama of the first two films into a formulaic and repetitive exercise in montages and excessive machismo.

That being said, the film features an incredibly memorable villain played by Dolph Lundgren in his breakthrough role as the "unstoppable" Soviet boxer Ivan Drago. There is also one of the all-time best '80s workout montages, cross-cutting between Dolph's workout in a highly advanced technological gym and Stallone's workout in a Russian cabin in the woods, where he chops down trees and pulls sleighs through the snow.

Unfortunately, much of the character drama in the film is bland (particularly the scenes with Talia Shire and Burt Young) and there is a ridiculous and unnecessary robot which I assume was meant to show how "advanced" technology was becoming in the mid-'80s.

All in all, this is far from the high point of Rocky's cinematic career, but it's serviceable purely for the cheese factor and the numerous montages that are offered.