A very intense Rocky movie!

Rating: 9/10 (3 February 2007)

Rocky 4 is a surprisingly successful addition to the Rocky series. This movie is packed with much more action, emotion and a much brutal final match. Rocky 4 is about a Russian boxer Ivan Drago who ends up killing Apollo Creed in an exhibition match. Rocky, in a flurry of emotions, challenges Ivan himself. As per the conditions of the match, he is to fight the match in Russia. He even trains in Russia considering the distractions he could face back home.
We knew in Rocky 3 that in the end Rocky was going to end up on top and I am sure many of us also had the feeling that Rocky IV would also show him on top. The story is fairly simple. Just like unique training sequence, music and a different fighting method were major factors in helping Rocky 3 strike a chord with the fans of the franchise, similar was the case with Rocky IV. With not so deep a story to tell, Rocky IV needed something unique and powerful to carve a niche.
And that is precisely what Rocky IV was able to find. Rocky IV found Dolph Lundgren to play the Russian boxer Ivan Drago. And it showed a beautifully intense training sequence, a shocking first match and an inspiring second match. The scene of Apollo receiving the last punch of his life from Ivan Drago was one powerful scene that created a deep impact. The fear in the mind of Rocky as portrayed in his visions while driving back home was well done too. ("There's no easy Way out" playing in the background.) Vince DiCola does a real good job with the music. The music he composed for the training sequence was really good. The training sequence itself was very good. The training shows Rocky use natural elements around him instead of sophisticated equipment (he is denied that anyway). The best part of the training scene is the huge difference between Drago's training and Rocky's training shown in parallel. It was a well done sequence.
The match was really well choreographed. Intense, bloody, brutal and nail-biting. And since the movie came out at a much later stage (it had to, after all it is the fourth movie) Stallone had these well-developed abs and chest and that helped in making the match and the training look much better. The match and the training did it again for this Rocky movie. Pretty sure if they had screwed up in these parts, the movie would never have become the box office success that it has become.
A must watch for all Rocky fans!