ROCKY IV (1985)
Rocky IV opens up right where Rocky III left off. Rocky is
hanging out and rich as all get out. He even gets a robot for Paulie (Burt Young).
For some reason Apollo (Carl Weathers) isn’t hot about the fact that some
Russian dude thinks he can box in America at the height of the cold war. So he
mistakenly decides he can take him on. Throughout the series Adrian hasn’t
really be down with Rocky running into fights and this time around she isn’t
really down with Apollo doing it either. What makes this movie so appealing is
that is really doesn’t give a flying crap about today’s sensitivities. It
pretty much throws all the grand standing of politics, life, and boxing, into the ring with an unapologetic punch,
while also utilizing superb use of dialog to avoid bogging the film down with
profanity. If you watch the entire
series this one or Rocky III are probably going to be in your favorite. For me
as a kid, this was right in my wheelhouse. The final fight between Drago and Rocky is probably the best in the entire series...or any boxing movie period. What doesn’t seem to stand the test
of time is the reason Apollo wanted to take on Drago in the first place. You
can clearly see why Rocky wanted to, which makes the springboard to the plot
seem more like a writing room afterthought, rather than an actual convincing
reason. Outside of that this movie feels super solid with a nice blend of nods
to the earlier films. It also falls right in line with the series expert level
use of timeless 80’s rock. I really didn’t find any issues with any of the
actors in this thing, but found it an odd and sad way to end Apollo Creed’s
legacy. Lets hope it doesn’t go the same way for his son. For me this movie probably dropped from basically being perfect to a 5 out of 7 over the years. You will see a lot of
crappy reviews for this thing, but it’s likely those reviews came from people
that think they need to take fighting out of hockey. I
guess they also are taking out their frustrations that Talia Shire wasn’t in
Rocky V out on this movie.
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