{"id":19008,"date":"2017-04-14T10:31:57","date_gmt":"2017-04-14T14:31:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/?p=19008"},"modified":"2017-04-14T16:21:46","modified_gmt":"2017-04-14T20:21:46","slug":"rocky-iv-1985","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/2017\/04\/14\/rocky-iv-1985\/","title":{"rendered":"Rocky IV (1985)"},"content":{"rendered":"

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With Superman, Hulk Hogan, and Rocky Balboa, America pretty much beat the hell out of Communist Russia in the eighties, and we were proud of it. While \u201cRocky III\u201d is the superior sequel in the original \u201cRocky\u201d series, \u201cRocky IV\u201d is perhaps the most talked about of the Rocky mythology and is also the most action packed. \u201cRocky IV\u201d has a brisk pacing with almost no slow down in its storytelling and that brevity is probably why the sequel is still so beloved, despite its camp and homoerotic overtones. There really isn\u2019t much to \u201cRocky IV\u201d that\u2019s tough to figure out. It has a robot that talks like a woman, features scenes of Rocky\u2019s son trading one-liners with his friends while watching his dad\u2019s fight, and a stern jingoistic attitude that it unapologetically waves around.<\/p>\n

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Russia has developed a new fighter named Ivan Drago, who has been genetically refined as the perfect boxer. Anxious to reclaim his glory days, Apollo Creed convinces Rocky to help him train and challenges Drago to an exhibition bout. Despite his best efforts to train, Apollo is way out of his league and is literally beaten to death in the ring. Hoping to avenge his best friend, Rocky decides to train harder than ever and goes back to America to challenge Drago to a fight. From there it\u2019s America versus Russia in the ring, with Drago getting the one up mainly because his wife is the absolutely sexy Brigitte Nielsen in her prime. \u201cRocky IV\u201d is essentially a revenge movie where Stallone preaches about the honor of America by making Rocky in to someone who doesn\u2019t just beat Drago in the ring, but even goes to his country to train as a Russian would, in the snow.<\/p>\n

The stand out in \u201cRocky IV\u201d is the debut of Dolph Lundgren whose turn as Ivan Drago is absolutely memorable. Drago loks exactly like a man genetically altered to become the perfect boxer, and looks absolutely imposing towering over Stallone during the big fight in the finale. As for \u201cRocky IV\u201d along with the camp, there\u2019s also the thick homoerotic overtones that make the sequel something of an anomaly. There just seems to be so much more there with Balboa and Creed that it\u2019s almost impossible not to notice at times. Rocky and Apollo’s re-match in the beginning is teeming with sexual tension, Rocky almost becomes Apollo’s Adrian, cheering him on and standing ring side to provide emotional support.<\/p>\n

Rocky mourns Apollo’s death on a different level than he did Mickey\u2019s, there’s the whole montage in the car where Rocky\u2019s driving and almost seems torn between his passion for Adrian and his passion for Apollo. In the ring he dons Apollo\u2019s trunks, and only when he overcomes his grief for Apollo can he focus on avenging him and beating Drago. Adrian is almost an afterthought in \u201cRocky IV\u201d mainly standing in the background looking stoic and offering support for her husband when he isolates himself in Russia. It doesn\u2019t tarnish what\u2019s an otherwise entertaining sequel, but it\u2019s just a fascinating recurring theme so powerful it almost seems to imply a lot about Rocky we never understood. While \u201cRocky IV\u201d is still entertaining and action packed, it\u2019s the lesser sequel in the original series, and offers no real weight or complexity that \u201cRocky III,\u201d or even \u201cRocky II\u201d did.<\/p>\n