Rocky IV (1985) Reviews

• The best classic sport action film from the 80's!

  ivo-cobra82015-11-04

  Rocky IV (1985) is definitely one of the best Sport action films of the 80's! It is my number one favorite best movie in the Rocky series! I love this movie to death and I don't care what anyone says. It was my first film I saw it as a kid, it is my childhood film and I grew up with this movie! Sylvester Stallone did gave us one of his the most best performances of the Rocky character ever! This film along side with Rocky III is very underrated, misunderstood, bashed and dissed off from fans and it's critics! I love this film to death and it has a special place in my heart. The film has everything that I love in a Rocky film. It is fast paced and Entertained from beginning till end. The film goes very fast, is not boring, dull or lame, it is actually pretty good film, is not bad is actually good. The fourth installment of the Rocky series isn't the greatest film like, were his predecessors but it is still a good film. People: It's not that bad. In fact, it's really good. Okay, it isn't a classic like the first two movies were, and it suffers further by comparison to "Rambo: First Blood Part II" which came out six months before it. But "Part IV," was still one of the best movies of its year (1985). That fight at the end was EPIC, just amazing. As for the music, Bill Conti is great but so is Vince Dicola! Vince is a genius on synthesizer music. The fight at the end was a literal clash of the titans level bout, and his music fit it so perfectly! Rocky IV remained the highest grossing sports movie for 24 years before it was overtaken by The Blind Side. It is the fourth and most financially successful entry in the Rocky film series. As a kid Rocky IV was always my favorite best movie. It still is alongside with Rocky I,III and Balboa! It is sad that Apollo dies in this movie I hated that, but the rest was pretty fast entertaining, well faced paced entertained action movie. This is the first movie that place actually took in a different country and not in the US. I love when Rocky (Sylvester Stallone) fly's to Russia to fight the best undefeated champion Ivan Drago (Dolph Lundgren). The training sequences were awesome the fight sequences were entertained and very paced amazing. The soundtracks for this movie were pretty awesome and great. James Brown Living in America was awesome. The fight between Rocky and Drago was set on 25th December Christmas. This is the first Rocky film where the music is not composed by Bill Conti. The Fourth movie was one of the best Sport action movies Directed by Sylvester Stallone, he made such a great wonderful performance I love You Sly. Without you there wouldn't be Rocky. I have heard a lot about this film: Carl Weathers as Apollo Creed and Dolph Lundgren as Ivan Drago really did not get along and got into an a real fight during filming. Lundgren threw Weathers across the ring before it was broken up. You can even see the scene during a press conference regarding the match, hostility is created between Apollo and Drago's respective camps. The fight really went out of hand. Carl Weathers shouted profanities at Lundgren while leaving the ring and announcing that he was calling his agent and quitting the movie. Sylvester Stallone forced and convince those two macho ego actors to comeback and finishing the film. The major problem with this film I have is killing the most best awesome character Apollo Creed. In Rocky sequel almost everyone dies. The killing one of the most favorite characters was one of the worst idea Stallone ever had. In Rocky III Mickey dies, in Rocky IV Apollo dies in Rocky Balboa Adrian Dies. Stallone kept killing our favorite characters but he memorized them. The movie wasn't filmed in Russia which that really disappointed me and I think Stallone should have visit Russia and film at least one scene there. I love sound effects and Rocky IV is one of the few sport movies that applies genuine sound effects from actual punches, bona fide training methods created by boxing consultants, and a bevy of other new special effects. I love everything that it is about this film, everything! "When east meets west, the champion remains standing" Rocky Balboa,heavyweight champion of the world, is the trainer for Apollo Creed in an exhibition match against Ivan Drago, a "superman" boxer from the Soviet Union. When Apollo is killed in the ring by the brutal Drago, Balboa blames himself and promises to avenge his friend's death in the ring. That is the basic and simply plot of the most awesome sport action film of the 80's! Rocky IV is a 1985 American sports film written and directed by Sylvester Stallone, who also starred in the film. The film co-stars Dolph Lundgren, Burt Young, Talia Shire, Carl Weathers, Tony Burton, Brigitte Nielsen, and Michael Pataki. That is the basic plot of the awesome sport action film! The rating I am giving a 10, I love this film to death, I grew up with it and it is my number1 favorite Rocky Film!

• Forget the politics and this is one of the most entertaining films ever made

  baumer1999-09-22

  In 1976, a phenom was born. By now we are all aware of the story of how Stallone wrote the screenplay for Rocky in three days after watching a fight between an extreme underdog and a highly favoured champ. Stallone was a nobody back then yet he still stood his ground and didn't sell out to the producers until they promised him the title role. The rest they say is history. Well 9 years later, after three Rocky films, in my opinion comes the best one. I realize that Rocky was all story and then a climatic boxing match and that is what won the film the Oscar. And even though I can admit that this film is not as concerned with character developement as it is with training montages and bulging muscles, it is by far and away the most entertaining film of the 5. And that is what I enjoy about the film. I love that Rocky IV has some of the best training montages ever filmed. I love that it has the heart of a lion when it shows Rocky scaling a mountain that you know damn well he shouldn't be able to. And I absolutely love the boxing match at the end of the film. This was completely choreographed by Stallone and he and Dolph Lundgren boxed for real for about 75% of the match. Stallone felt that it needed some authenticity so that was the way to do it. And if you think Robert De Niro is an impressive method actor, try this fact on for size. When filming the boxing match, some of the scenes were so real that Stallone was rushed to hospital because his heart was actually pushed up and his ribcage was slightly shattered. So when you watch that match at the end, just know that what you are seeing is not exactly choreography and trick camera work. They did the best job they could to keep the look of the fight as real as possible. And I think this is the best boxing match ever filmed, with all due respect to Raging Bull. Stallone was in the shape of his life in this year as he filmed Rocky and Rambo back to back and it shows. I have never seen a more sculpted man in the movies than he was here. And I think that added to his superman persona. If you notice in all the Rocky films, he grows a little each time. And that also adds to the enjoyment of the film. Rocky IV is different than Rocky, there is no doubt. And as much as I love the first one, it doesn't come close to entertaining me as much as this one does. Rocky IV starts fast and it ends hard and in between we are blessed with a great soundtrack and a beautiful montage of all the Rocky films to Robert Tepper's "There's No Easy Way Out" And it is here that even though some will say that Stallone has substituted real human emotion with an MTV ersatz video, I think it works well. There is nothing about this film that I didn't enjoy and if you forget what the experience of watching this one is like, I suggest that you rent it now and take a look at it. And try to remember what it was like when you first saw this film back in the winter of 85. I remember I was in Kokomo Indiana visiting family for Christmas. My mom and I walked into a packed theater and you want to talk about a place erupting like a volcano, then this was the place. When Rocky finally hits Drago to cut him over the eye and Duke yells " he's cut, he's cut! " the crowd went into a frenzy. And you can look no further than that as to why the Rocky films were so popular. It doesn't matter if you are Canadian, American, Portuguese, Polish or Dutch or whatever, Rocky appeals to all of us. Because all of us have been the underdog at some time in our lives and we love to watch him and perhaps live vicariously through him. That is the beauty of Rocky. If Rocky can do it then dammit so can I! When the movie ended on that cold night back in 1985, and people were filtering out to their cars for the drive home, I swear I could hear the crowd chanting his name, as did the millions..... and millions of the Rock's fans. " Rocky! Rocky! Rocky!"

• Best rocky film

  oldgoldandblack2018-07-06

  I love the rocky films. This is the best. So emotional, also has a great soundtrack. In 1985 they knew how to make good movies

• Rocky IV has the most amazing soundtrack ever!

  naughtyjimmy2008-01-30

  We all know the plot of Rocky IV is awfully thin (Soviet boxer comes to USA. Soviet boxer kills Rocky's friend. Rocky goes to Soviet Union to avenge aforementioned friend. End of script). And this movie has very little dialog. Granted. This movie is actually a 90-minute music video. Absolutely. And it's full of stereotypes and clichés on the USSR and Russians etc. Logically, this movie is total trash, and by far the worst Rocky movie. And you know what? Rocky IV is by far my favorite Rocky movie, and one of my all-time fave films. I know this defies all reason, but I'll tell why. I'm a huge Stallone fan, and once again Sly remarkably directed and acted in this fourth installment of the Rocky saga; the others actors sincerely and convincingly played their parts as well; the editing is impressive too. But the real star of the movie is in fact one you certainly didn't expect. As I said above, Rocky IV is a one-hour-and-a-half music video, and its real wonder is actually soundtrack author Vince DiCola. As much as I love and respect Bill Conti's work on all other Rocky movies, I must say that in my mind, DiCola's score on this movie surpassed Conti's and is the "true", the "ultimate" Rocky soundtrack. DiCola managed to capture the essence of Rocky, i.e. overcoming one's fears, fighting against the odds, perseverance in the face of adversity etc. I'm referring especially to "Training Montage" and "Heart's on Fire" (wonderfully sung by John Cafferty): more than any other piece of music I've heard in my life, Vince DiCola's tunes are incredibly inspiring, unbelievably motivating... Just listen to them, they'll pump you up like nothing else. Whatever your occupation is (physical or intellectual), they'll instantly put you on a high and in the right mindset to achieve your goal. DiCola's music is so powerful, combined with the impressive editing of the training scenes, I would even be tempted to say it has a near-magical power to motivate you. It's definitely the ultimate inspirational music. And the score in the rest of the film, especially "War" during the final fight, is equally terrific. It makes you root for Rocky from the beginning to the end and feel his emotions. Stallone often had remarkable soundtracks for his movies (e.g. those by Jerry Goldsmith for the Rambo saga) and it's a shame and incomprehensible that DiCola wrote very few film scores (same for John Cafferty, why isn't he more famous?). I acknowledge that the first time I saw Rocky IV, I hated Vince DiCola's music because it was so different from Bill Conti's, but after watching the movie again, I came to adore it. In 1985, it was a score ahead of its time, and more than twenty years later, it still is. It hasn't lost an ounce of its power. Is it humanly possible to compose a more motivating soundtrack? Watch (and above all, listen to) Rocky IV from this perspective and you'll understand why there are so many people who love it.

• No Credibility, But Sure Is Entertaining

  ccthemovieman-12006-06-24

  Here's another low-brained but very entertaining "Rocky" movie with one more interesting villain. Instead Of "Apollo Creed" or "Mr. T.," we now have "Ivan Drago,"(Dolph Lundgren) a giant Russian who is more like a machine. He's "indestructable" (and on steroids, too, and unlike some baseball slugger, he admits it!). He has the latest in technology, nutrition, etc., but you just know the much-smaller disadvantaged hero "Rocky Balboa" (Sylvester Stallone) will somehow find a way to chop this "Goliath" down. Minute-for-minute, this might be the most entertaining of all the Rocky films, and looks good on DVD despite some graininess in the first five minutes. Rocky's wife "Adrian" (Talia Shire) never looked better: mature and pretty; the gruff and profane manager played Burgess Meredith is gone and the repellent obnoxious slob "Paulie" (Burt Young) has only a few lines. This is the ultimate "David vs. Goliath" tale in every aspect and the final bout - held in Russia - breaks the all-time Rocky record for most punches ever thrown at two fighters. Of course, any real-life human would have been knocked cold about 50 times had they suffered the blows "Rocky" did in this fight! This is a real flag-waving film with Rocky draping the Stars and Stripes around his shoulders. It's a totally unrealistic story but, all of these in the series were similar, credibility-wise, so just go along with it and enjoy the story. It's only an hour-and-a-half and story literally flies by.