Is it East against West or man against man?

Rating: 7/10 (27 May 2005)

The formula was so well established by this point that Stallone could write one of these in his sleep and if Rocky's cold war clash is anything to go by, that's exactly what he did. For Sly it's just a case of joining the dots. Rocky doesn't want to fight but he's goaded to/provoked into/forced to for honourable purposes but isn't ready so must train harder than ever before while his seemingly unbeatable opponent benefits from superior facilities but is doomed to be defeated because he is complacent/arrogant/evil/not Rocky/all of the above. The details in-between don't really matter but if you're interested this time it's personal as Rocky's former Nemesis, turned friend, turned trainer Apollo Creed decides he's regarded as yesterday's man and vainly challenges Soviet killing machine Ivan Drago (Dolph Lungren) to an exhibition fight in which he's the only person surprised by his untimely death. The Italian Stallion could leave it there but a)Drago is ill-advisedly unrepentant and b)if he did the movie would be half an hour long so the revenge match is set for Christmas Day back in the good 'ol USSR and...well you know the rest. The forth Rocky is mindless entertainment and a blatant self-parody but although you could write the whole thing in less time than it takes for Apollo's bloody head to hit the canvas it's genuinely enjoyable stuff. From the moment Creed is, as the Scots say, deed, the rest of the film is pure 80's excess - a clip strewn montage, a cheesy power ballad, Rocky coming to terms with his demons by driving his Ferrari through the night etc, etc... When the Rockster gets to Russia (Wyoming apparently) he's got only revenge on his mind and so we get to the final 45 minutes which every Rocky fan waits for in which Stallone's back to basics, low tech approach - cutting logs with a axe, pulling cars, climbing mountains, is contrasted with the Soviet's high-tech, computerised training programme. All your instincts tell you that Rocky is doomed but as he reaches the summit of that slope, the synthesiser score reaching a crescendo you know that somehow Americas going to pull it out of the bag and although you were a hardened cynic just half an hour earlier, you're now watching the most unlikely match-up in boxing history chanting "Rocky! Rocky!". This may be the brilliance of Stallone's film because although its as sophisticated as some twigs and a bit of flint, it's almost impossible not to root for the inevitable victor - shameless manipulation aside, which is basically the entire film, you're a cold hearted, joy-less shell if you don't go "yeeeahhh" when Drago is finally cut by Rocky's punch even though in reality Rocky would have to have arms 8 feet in length just to reach the Soviet's face. Not everyone would have the guts to distill the entire cold war into a single boxing match with Stallone the unlikely broker of peace but just such a miracle occurs here and when Rocky gives his slurred, barely inaudible riposte to the tensions between the superpowers "If I cun chaaange, then youu cun chaangge, we caaan all changee!" and even Gorbachov gets to his feet you know you've transcended mere popcorn fare and entered the arena of comic genius. The Reds might be a bunch of humourless, oppressed warmongers but they're no match for the Gipper's pugilist special envoy. Is it any wonder the evil empire collapsed after this?