Ridiculous, entertaining.... but not true to the originals.

Rating: 6/10 (3 June 2005)

As a kid, Rocky IV was the film I most wanted to see in the cinema - ever!! The hype was huge - I dreamt about the movie before even seeing it! I remember the aura surrounding the huge mysterious new bad guy in Drago and the rumours that Apollo gets killed.
Watching it as an adult though is obviously an entirely different experience. The film has dated mainly due to the anti-USSR overtones - but then this was made in the mid 80's cold-war era. It is laughable at times, what with Paulie's talking robot - the ridiculous press conference before Rocky v Drago, the sports scientists and their massive 80's computers and all the stereotypical portrayals of Russians and KGB agents - hey even ex-president Gorbachev(complete with stained forehead) is in it!!
Then there are the silly pop-video type scenes, the poor acting from the boxers' wives, and that cheesy final scene with Rocky's kid and friends watching the fight on TV (btw: poor casting of Rocky's son - both his parents are Italian-Americans yet the boy here wasn't -an indication of the lack of attention to detail and slipping standards in the Rocky series.)
The best thing about Rocky IV are the 2 fights, although totally unbelievable and the training scenes. Hats off to Dolph Lundgren, Stallone and Carl Weathers for getting into such fantastic physical shape for this film - it will probably inspire you to hit the gym and has that feel-good factor like Rocky III did.