Odd At Parts, Great At Others.

Rating: 9/10 (21 January 2009)

Let me start off by saying that I am amazed at how many people do not think this film is great. Hopefully reading this review will help you to see the film the way that I do, AS ONE OF THE GREATEST FILMS EVER MADE!!!!! Russia decides to enter the boxing world. Ivan Drago, an enormous giant guy with super human strength not unlike He Man(the actor who played Drago also played He Man in "Masters of the Universe"), is the guy the Russians hype up. Punching at extremely high power "Whatever he hits he destroys". Apollo gets upset at how the Russians think that they can box so he decides to go against Drago in an exhibition match. Rocky and Adrian both tell Apollo how he should think this decision out more but Apollo decides that he must do this. When Apollo and Drago fight it is a complete disaster and Drago kills Apollo, and I do not mean that Drago beats him bad I mean that he really KILLS HIM! Rocky decides to train over in Russia and then to go against Drago in the ring.
One of the main reasons that a movie is great is because of a great villain. Drago is truly a great villain. A boxer that kills somebody in the ring is really scary if you ask me. So the fact that Rocky is going against a guy who can kill you in the ring basically adds a lot more intrigue to this match up than some in the past. Drago is easily the best bad guy in the Rocky Series and one of the best bad guys ever if you ask me.
Rocky is a great character in this film. He is not as celebrity like as he was in Rocky 3, but he is not as street like as he was in the first two films. Basically his character in this film is a mature heavy weight champion getting near the end who knows how to handle things. Rocky does some of his best training ever in this film climbing mountains, chopping wood, lifting horse trailers, and doing excruciating looking sit ups. Rocky does not mess around training either and has no lapses like he did in previous films.
Apollo dying I think adds a lot to the story in this film. Rocky is fighting against Drago not for money, not for the heavy weight title, but to get revenge for his deceased friend and I think that is a lot more important than money or a title.
The music selection is awesome. "Hearts on Fire", "Burning Heart", and "THeres No Easy Way Out" are all played at great times and add to the film greatly. Vince Dicola was the composer of this film and this is the only Rocky film he is the composer for but his background music goes great with this film. Dicola also did the "Transformers Animated Movie" soundtrack and several of the songs sound similar. "Gonna Fly Now" is not used at all in this film but to tell you the truth the music was so good in this film that I did not care nor notice.
The final fight between Rocky and Drago is great. Not much more to add on that, you just need to see it.
There are a few issues I have with this film. Number one, what is the deal with the Robot that Rocky buys Paulie for his birthday? IT just seems out of place and really adds nothing to the film at all. Maybe they just wanted to add some science fiction but the Robot part at the beginning is just odd.
The ending is odd too. Rocky is going against Russia's number one boxer and at the beginning Rocky is booed mercilessly. Then towards the end of the fight the crowd starts cheering for ROcky????? That would never happen and given the circumstances I think this may be the most far fetched event in movie history.
Great Villain, great music, great plot, and overall just Great Rocky. Probably the third best of the series but still one of the greatest sporting movies ever. Highly recommended.