The day the Rocky series died (until 2006 that is)

Rating: 4/10 (12 November 2016)

There is something to be said about film series that start with great, serious filmmaking, and then descend into goofball antics as they go on. The Rocky series is one of the definitive examples of this. The first Rocky was an excellent film that told a great story about a great character who was brought to life thanks to Sylvester Stallone's charm and raw acting. Rocky II was a fantastic sequel which, despite a couple of problems, managed to keep the viewer rooting for our favorite underdog champion. Rocky III started these antics with the Hulk Hogan wrestling match and Rocky relying more on showbiz than actual heart and talent, but it still had room for genuine human drama and was a self-aware metaphor about having too much of a good thing and how one becomes a different person when he or she is famous. In a way, I think it predicted how Stallone's career would go for the next couple of decades. It's such a shame that this prediction started to prove itself correct so soon.
Rocky IV is considered a favorite to many fans, but it's soulless and has nothing that even resembles the first three films, despite the cast and the flashbacks to them. The story is, after the events of Rocky III, Rocky lives the quiet life until his new friend Apollo Creed (Carl Weathers) asks him to be his trainer in an exhibition fight against Soviet Union boxer Ivan Drago (Dolph Lundgren); Drago is a fresh face in the Soviet Union who is the World Amateur Champion of Boxing and who is given steroids by his superiors to increase his strength and punching power. Apollo is ultimately disgraced as he is killed by Drago in a pretty short fight, and Rocky has to train in Russia and fight Drago himself to prove that good ol' America is better than the Soviets.
You might've guessed this, but the main reason I really don't like this film is because of how goofy it is even when compared to the first three films. The fact that Rocky is fighting a big muscular steroid-pumped boxer a decade and a half his junior alone takes the cake in ridiculousness. Everyone knows that as the series went on, Rocky's condition became more unrealistic, but here, it reaches a peak in lack of credibility; if the fight happened in real life, it would have been over in 30 seconds. And while the Rocky films are not really a go-to on how to box, there was something to each of the final fights in the previous films. Here, Rocky and Drago are just beating the crap out of each other with the sole objective of making the other person stay down. But Rocky keeps coming despite the punishment; if Rocky seems to be doing fine despite this, then there are no stakes. Also, there is a big musical sequence before the Apollo/Drago fight and is all flashy and is only meant to show up Drago, as Apollo is still a cocky son of a gun (you'd think that there would be some character development after a few movies)
Also, Rocky's brother in law, Paulie (Burt Young) has a robot that has no purpose in the film other than to add comedy and look sleek. Apparently, the robot was a legit thing that was used to promote autistic awareness; Stallone put it in the film because he thought it looked pretty cool. That gives you an idea of the mentality behind this movie.
It also feels like Stallone has run out of ways to write proper dialogue for this series, as many of the moments of dialogue don't feel genuine and there is some dialogue that is rather weak.
The Soviet bad guys are pretty one-dimensional and Drago, other than his fighting prowess is unimpressive as a human being; he doesn't speak (an intentional acting choice from Lundgren) and his dialogue sounds so monotone (trying to emphasize him as a robot). Brigitte Nielsen plays his wife and her acting is very unconvincing. Drago's superiors' main objective with the final fight is to prove how weak the U.S. is, and they have no qualms about Apollo's death. Bottom line it's pretty simple what the movie is saying: Americans: good, Soviets: bad. Again, it feels like there are no personal stakes for Rocky.
Rocky IV is simply a bad movie that tarnishes what Stallone accomplished with the original Rocky in 1976 and should be avoided by those who have any respect for that film. Viewers watching the series for the first time should skip this one and Rocky V and go straight to Rocky Balboa once they've gotten past Rocky III.