An 80's Cult Classic ... suffering from a predictable build-up ...

Rating: 6/10 (2 February 2012)

Is four a lucky number when it comes to the most successful sports franchise of all-time? Well, regarding the box-office score, yes, the fourth opus of the "Rocky" series is the highest grossing and this is a fact. If it is the best is another matter. While this honor goes either to the opening or the concluding film in my opinion, it's not the worst either, and it carries a little charm getting more palpable after each viewing, granted you know you're not watching a film on the same caliber as "Rocky", THE masterpiece.
I think the 'charm' thing has to do with the cult status of the film, something that defines the 80's in such a flashy way, it's almost blinding. "Rocky IV" works as a kaleidoscope of all the cinematic stereotypes of the 80's, name one, you'll find it. First, by being (not another) sequel, the film incarnates one of the 80's most obvious trends, the necessary continuation of a money-making series. We forgive the musical montage since it's almost a trademark of the series, and "Rocky IV"'s training montage is particularly well done, the sight of Rocky Balboa climbing the frozen peaks of Russian mountains is dizzyingly inspiring and one of the franchise's best shot. We have the one-dimensional antagonist, through Ivan Drago, furthermore from Soviet Russia, the greatest cinematic propaganda villains' providers before September Eleven. Drago defines the film's age and his evilness is defined by one of the cruelest movie deaths after Bambi's mom: Apollo Creed. "Rocky IV" is infamous for being the one where the glorious and charismatic Apollo is killed, so Rocky can get on the ring and take good old revenge, the most overused plot device of the sport genre.
I could go on and on about the movie clichés, but these are the most blatant ones, and I even forgive the speaking robot offered to Paulie for his birthday, it was the 80's, when we thought we would all be in flying cars in the 2000's. All the archetypal elements I defined don't ruin the film, but they create a huge gap in quality with what the first opus stood for, a movie beyond all the traditional representations. "Rocky" didn't need to win but to go the distance, Apollo was cocky but not evil, the montage was about building resistance not becoming a superhuman, and certainly not the revenge on a dead friend. Yes, I have a problem with Apollo's death, because it's so unlike the values incarnated by the series that it feels forced. I guess Stallone thought : "Rocky needs a good reason to get back on the ring again" then he thought of a terminator-like opponent, Dolph Lundgren as Drago, the pride of USSR, a powerful athlete training with the most modern equipment and not without use of steroids, USSR so he can challenge America (Cold War days). And who's the most openly American on the heavyweight competition? Bingo. Apollo gets in the rings to get out of it two feet ahead. We have our pivotal moment..
To make it simpler, my problem with "Rocky IV" is that I started appreciating the film only after Apollo's death; the beginning was an artificially written build-up that doesn't match the quality of the rest of the film. And that's symptomatic of most of the sequels, they end up better than they started, I thought Adrian's coma and Rocky's struggle to find a job were too long in the second film, the training for Lang's fight in the third proved that obviously Rocky wasn't in the best shape to win, and the movie got better when Mickey died and Apollo trained Rocky. "Rocky IV" sins with the same problem of obviousness, we know Drago will destroy Apollo, Apollo's pretension is so blatant it's like he forgot that he was beaten two years in a row, you'd think it would have taught him a lesson of humility. Apollo didn't even have the 'eye of the tiger' because he acted like a caricature of the first Apollo, with the whole 'Living in America' parade, James Brown, stars and striped short. We're always ahead of the characters and know what would happen, Stallone with an Oscar nomination for writing proved to have a talent to come up with inventive ideas, but in the "Rocky sequels, he always seem more inspired in the second acts, probably confident that the ending would redeem the flaws in the beginning..
And he's not totally wrong, the "Rocky" films always have been about the ending, and the climactic fight, whose patriotically austere undertones contrasts with the flashiness of the first one, features probably one of the most painful to watch fights, yet awesome and entertaining. Rocky's journey in Russia becomes the reason to be of the film, and although the ending doesn't surprise us, it's handled with a positive message, here comes the 'we can change' speech, that sounds rather naive now, but doesn't deprive the film from a poignant humanistic value. I only wish it could have encouraged Stallone to write a less formulaic story, although it contains some unforgettable lines such as "If he dies, he dies", Duke's repeated "No pain" catchphrase, the classic "I must break you" followed by probably one of my Top 10 lines from the film when Paulie tells Rocky: "Remember what I said back there about wanting to be you?" Rocky nods, Paulies says: "Forget it." Apollo is no more with us, but thank God we have Paulie for the laughs, and Adrian for the heart.
(On a last note, I always tried to point my finger on what the movie lacked besides the writing, and I remember that I always thought the movie featured the song "The Final Countdown" one of the most defining music of the 80's, I was disappointed not to hear the song in "Rocky IV" and I guess it would have been a huge contribution to the film, had it been used.)