Rocky 4
Sometimes in a popular film franchise, the oddest thing happens. When the writer / director has become comfortable enough with his core group of characters that having them play off each other is now effortless, he then drops these characters into a storyline where the intimate drama aspects are stripped away in favor of a movie with a message on a much larger scale, and in doing so creates the best and most entertaining entry in the series. As was the case in 1985 when Sylvester Stallone unleashed the FOURTH Rocky film on the world, and accomplished so many things in so many different ways. In essence, he created the ultimate 80s movie, a film so attuned to the decade in which it was made that the culture of the time just drips from the screen. He also managed to conceive a Cold War story of the then ongoing conflicts between The United States and Russia that has such wonderful subtext going on and actually manages to refuse to fully take a side on either end so successfully that it almost makes the viewer cry (Rumor has it that Ronald Reagan himself used it as inspiration to successfully end The Cold War). And of course he made a movie that inspired athletes and other competitors worldwide (and acknowledged by many of them as being the case) to be willing to push themselves to the limits of their endurance in order to achieve the impossible dream, with the help of a music soundtrack that became a de facto presence in many workout routines. Into all this we get the familiar franchise characters like Rocky, Adrian, Paulie, Apollo, and Duke, but now the style of the filmmaking itself (something Stallone tinkered with in 3) is much more in the moment, frenetic, and fast paced to the point it has almost been labeled a comic book style movie by some, but the themes explored (some of which were touched upon in the earlier movies) are expanded here as an exploration of world politics and international conflicts, no matter where they occur or what countries are involved. The story sees The Russian Government bring to America and promote a fighter they have literally created with their advanced technology named Ivan Drago, played by Dolph Lundgren in a performance of amazing subtlety, not being given much dialogue from Stallone but expressing many things through merely his eyes and facial expressions, including the possibility of Drago being a borderline psychopath and also quite resentful of his almost puppet like status in the way he is used and controlled by the Soviet diplomats. Turns out that Carl Weathersā Apollo Creed is offended by the Russiansā arrogance, and sets up a comeback fight for himself against Drago, but takes it too far when he calls Dragoās wife (Brigitte Nielsen, Stalloneās wife at the time) ābitchā at the press conference and seals his own fate. The ensuing fight illustrates even more subtext that many didnāt catch onto back then. Drago makes his entrance up through the floor while standing inside the ring and witnesses what many say is the reason that The Soviets āhatedā us: a crass, vulgar, shameless display of blind patriotism complete with dancing girls and even James Brown singing Living In America while Apollo comes dancing in on a giant bull. Many labeled the scene āoffensiveā, but thatās what it was SUPPOSED to be. Of course, Apollo gets his brains beaten out in a way that would make Muhammad Ali wince and gets sent to the grave instead of to the hospital, with the even more disturbing possibility that Apollo might have PREFERRED to go down like that instead of merely losing or spending the rest of his life in retired, boring bliss. Nonetheless, Rocky quickly sets up the fight with Drago (to be held in Russia on Christmas Day) against Adrianās wishes, and he, Paulie, and Duke jet off to Siberia to train for the fight under incredibly harsh conditions, while Drago takes on a highly organized, high tech training regimen while being pampered hand and foot throughout. The thing that Stallone exudes beautifully from his trademark Rocky character is that Balboa is not going all out to win this fight for his love of country, but rather as a personal vendetta and matter of honor to avenge his best friend, and all the political fireworks and showboating on both sides means nothing to him, as heās actually shown to bond a little bit with some of the locals, while that awesome soundtrack with cuts by Survivor, John Cafferty and Robert Tepperās legendary No Easy Way Out keeps the adrenaline fresh for the final fight itself, easily the most brutal and exciting the series has ever seen, with Stalloneās final speech to the Russian crowd driving the whole point home of why we as human beings should strive to get along no matter what soil we happen to live on. In the end, the definite peak and high point of the Rocky franchise, and maybe Stalloneās career itself, not to mention a film that is a hell of a lot smarter and more nuanced in its expansive themes than most people tend to give it credit forā¦
10/10