A Tale Of Revenge In The Boxing Ring

Rating: 9/10 (9 August 2019)

Rocky IV is another good entry, but unlike Rocky III, it actually changes up the story to make things fresh. Picking up where the last film left off, the story is Soviet boxing champion Ivan Drago (played by Dolph Lungdren) comes to the U.S. to enter the professional boxing circuit, causing Apollo Creed to come out of retirement to face the monster in an exhibition match, which ends with the former nemesis of the Italian Stallion getting killed in the ring. Rocky, feeling guilt over allowing his death to happen, despite his best efforts to make Apollo stop the match, decides to challenge Ivan, with the match taking place in Moscow.
Yeah, the story is changed up compared to the last three films, which reused the formula of main hero coming from the bottom to rise to the top as an underdog, the story in Rocky IV can be seen as a revenge story, as Rocky agrees to fight Ivan due to Apollo's death. Also, there are some silly moments (like Apollo's entrance, which has James Brown singing Living In America), but the story and characters are good, and while the movie is tied to the Cold War that was erupting at the time, I tend to ignore politics and stick to the elements I like. Worth checking out if you like boxing.