By Geno McGahee
I don’t think that the recut version of ROCKY IV could possibly live up to expectation. I am a huge ROCKY fan, loving all of the films that were released, including ROCKY V that gets so much hate. So, I waited patiently for this release and watched all of Sly Stallone’s interviews and previews of this movie.
The first and most noticeable thing about this recut version is there isn’t much of a musical score. The ROCKY films lived by the musical scores and there isn’t much music here and it takes away from much of the dramatic scenes and there is more drama in this one for sure.
We begin with some of ROCKY III, showing the relationship with Rocky (Stallone) and Apollo Creed (Carl Weathers), and how they went from rivals to friends. I liked the new footage from ROCKY III and it set the tone for this new one. The title scene was pretty lazy and I missed the exploding boxing gloves but I can live with that.
There is no sexbox robot for Paulie (Burt Young) in this one and it’s not really missed. It was always a stupid thing to begin with and the birthday party with the cake where Paulie said “you drowned-ed me” is gone but no loss.
A story point that wasn’t in the first cut is that Drago had no interest in fighting Apollo. The key focus was to fight Rocky and that bothered Apollo. I liked how the aging fighter that was retired for five years wanted the spotlight again and when Rocky refused to fight Drago, he took the opportunity.
We learn more about Drago (Dolph Lundgren) and his frustrations in this cut too. Drago was a pawn for the Russian government and it was starting to bother him and it builds throughout, leading to the point at the end of the film where he screams that he wins for himself. That was good and it made it all make a lot more sense.
There are new alternate scenes that I enjoyed and being such a ROCKY fan, I welcomed it. Adrian (Talia Shire) and her emotions going into the Apollo fight and after that added to the drama of the film. It did a better job at showing Rocky’s emotional journey to accepting the fight with Drago to avenge the death of Apollo.
The fight scenes are better. There was attention to detail in them, which makes sense considering how much of a boxing fan that Stallone is. The Apollo – Drago fight felt more real and an added knockdown in round one made the fight more dramatic. The pushing of the referee was removed, which was a good idea. Drago would have been disqualified at that point and the fact that he doesn’t push the referee adds to the storyline that had Rocky thrown in the towel, his friend would have been alive.
I think Stallone was trying to make this film like the original ROCKY, but it wasn’t ever mean to be that. ROCKY IV was a fun film that was almost shot like a music video. The added drama in this new recut didn’t really have the impact that Sly probably wanted. As I noted earlier, without a musical score, I didn’t find myself engulfed in the drama or emotion that I may have with the right music behind it.
The end of the movie plays out about the same with some alternate shots and some added dialogue and, in the end, the fun factor that made ROCKY IV so good has been extracted. It’s a pretty dry movie that doesn’t have the same feel as the other ROCKY entries. Some of the editing is lazy too. Stallone maintains shots at times for too long when they could have been mixed up with other shots to keep the viewer attached. The ring entrances for Rocky and Drago are extended that that wasn’t good either. The movie has starts and stops. It needed to be smoothed out.
ROCKY IV: ROCKY VS DRAGO is disappointing. I am a huge ROCKY fan and I waited patiently for this one, but it missed the mark. The new footage was cool to see and some of the different plot points were nice to see flushed out or introduced, but Stallone took a fun film and turned it into a slow drama. I really really was hoping that this might be like the Richard Donner SUPERMAN II, where it just rocked and became the movie that it was supposed to be, but ROCKY IV: ROCKY VS DRAGO didn’t add much and lost a lot in this recut.
Before I kill this review, I want to note a couple of things that I noticed worth mentioning. At the end of the film, Rocky wins, and Eye of the Tiger begins to play, prompting the Russian government guys to storm off. Did they hate the fact that Drago lost or were they not fans of that song? I was just curious. Also, when Rocky screams “DRAGO” from the top of the mountain, can Drago hear him? Was he screaming it right above Drago’s training camp to mess with him and get into his head?
I still recommend this film. I just wish I liked it more. I will still go with the original cut that is insanely silly and fun over the serious dramatic slow burn we get here. If you’re a fan of ROCKY, you need to see this, of course, but don’t expect something spectacular or tremendously different.
