Review of Rocky IV (1985) by Ken S — 01 Dec 2015

"Rocky IV" is full on 80s ridiculous-ness. The Russians have created some kind of atomic superman boxing nightmare...Ivan Drago. After Drago fights and kills Apollo Creed, Rocky trains in the Siberian mountains for a revenge fight.

The training sequences get more and more ridiculous with each shot. The movie is so over the top, from Creed's James Brown concert extravaganza entrance to the robot that Rocky gets Paulie. I think the thing about the sequels is that the first film was a really successful underdog story, and Rocky II was essentially a repeat of that underdog story, only that time he not only goes the distance but wins the whole thing.

So after "Rocky II" he is no longer the underdog. "Rocky III" played with that right, by pitting a more tame comfortable Rocky against the quite aggressive Clubber Lang...but now he is the champ who has worked his ass off and isn't an underdog in anyway.

How do you raise the stakes and fool people into thinking he is still some kind of underdog? Increase the strength of the opponent. In "Rocky IV" the opponent is overly strong, so much so that it seems completely unbelievable when Rocky wins.

Then after the entire film demonizes Russians and Communism...the Russian fans change who they root for midway through the fight, cheer for Rocky, and he gives a speech so moving even the leader of the USSR stands up and starts a slow clap.

The film is over the top 80s incarnate...which is actually why it can be fun to watch despite its complete disconnect with the realism of the previous films.