Rocky in Review, Part 2: Rocky IV and Sylvester Stallone's Improved Director's Cut
Reviewing Rocky vs Drago, a 2021 Revisitation of the 1985 Film
On Thursdays for the foreseeable future, I’ll be publishing reviews of classic movies, pieces that have never appeared here before taken from my book 200 Reviews, available now in Paperback or on Kindle (which you should really consider buying, because it’s an awesome collection!). For our first set of films, we’re looking at the Rocky series. Last week I reviewed the first three films, and today we’re continuing with Stallone’s Director’s Cut of Rocky IV.
Rocky IV: Rocky vs Drago - 1985 / 2021, Dir. Sylvester Stallone
Originally published in 200 Reviews, based on notes written February 24th, 2023
Rocky IV was never a sequel I had much affection for; outside of a few standout sequences, like the training montage in Russia, it always played as overly silly and unfocused to me, lacking neither the tonal clarity of Rocky III – which is big and dumb, but earnest and knowingly so – or the dramatic weight of the first two films. Color me surprised, then, with Sylvester Stallone’s 2021 director’s cut – rechristened Rocky IV: Rocky vs Drago – which is not only substantially different, but vastly improved, a re-edit that is particularly compelling as a companion to the first two Creed films, with Apollo and Drago’s characters coming into much sharper focus here in ways that dovetail nicely with the recent Michael B. Jordan-led sequels. Stallone’s instincts in this re-cut are very strong, turning the film into something that, while still imperfect, feels like a much more important part of the overall Rocky tapestry. This is no mere vanity project.
The whole first act is radically re-focused to be 100% about Apollo Creed and Ivan Drago – none of Paulie’s robot or any other guff. That's all gone. Where the first act of the theatrical cut was painfully slow, we get to the big fight much more quickly in the 2021 version, and the greater sense of concentration also means we have a better sense of Apollo’s motivations. Drago, meanwhile, really comes across as a sort of Frankenstein monster, a puppet told what to do, with no real will of his own. The famous "Living in America" scene is re-cut to focus less on Apollo’s showboating and more on Drago’s reactions, where entering the ring amidst the avalanche of Americana makes it seem like he’s entering an alien world.
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