ROCKY IV: ROCKY VS. DRAGO

[The Burgomaster]

To begin with, ROCKY IV is among the worst mainstream movies I've ever seen (but it's great to watch as a bad movie). So, when I heard Stallone was re-editing the movie I became interested. Could he actually make it a good movie? I watched it yesterday and the answer is "no."

On the positive side: He removed the stupid, embarrassing robot scenes.

On the negative side:

* The editing is very choppy.
* He added unnecessary voiceovers (like Rocky thinking, "Get up, don't be scared" after Drago knocks him down).
* He kept the dumb, implausible ending.
* He inserted some reaction shots of Drago during the final match that just seem awkward.

You can't polish a turd.

[zombie no.one]

the only Rocky movie I have ever seen is Part 5, purely because of how much it got slated

I'm now interested to see part 4 though  

[Alex]

It is a very '80s movie.

[The Burgomaster]

It is a very '80s movie.

It takes the Cold War and embarrassingly simplifies it to a boxing match. There's no subtlety at all: "U.S.A. good, Soviet Union bad, Rocky good, Drago bad." It's like 90 minutes of propaganda filmed like a series of music videos. With often painfully embarrassing dialogue.

[Alex]

It is a very '80s movie.

It takes the Cold War and embarrassingly simplifies it to a boxing match. There's no subtlety at all: "U.S.A. good, Soviet Union bad, Rocky good, Drago bad." It's like 90 minutes of propaganda filmed like a series of music videos. With often painfully embarrassing dialogue.

Yup. There were a lot of films along those lines back then.

[zombie no.one]

I just picked the DVD up cheap. it says 2020 on the back... I hope this isn't the cut with the "robot scenes" you mentioned removed cause that sounds funny

btw I cannot think of a single move franchise with 3 or more sequels where I have watched them in anything like chronological order.

[Trevor]

If none of you think it's good, I certainly won't be watching it.

[Dr. Whom]

I saw it ages ago, and remember being disappointed. It has very heavy handed cold war politics, and it takes itself far too seriously.

[claws]

Stallone cut out most of Brigitte Nielsen's scenes and replaced them with alternative scenes.
Example: Stallone reduced a full scene of Nielsen down to a few frames showing the final seconds with her face turned to the side. It is poorly edited and makes it even more obvious that the scene was longer



I guess Stallone is still holding a grudge  

[zombie no.one]

watched it. good fun... so shamelessly and knowingly clichéd it's hard not to enjoy. movies today all feel so horribly self conscious in some way or other. liked the robot scenes too

may progress to part 3 !

[ralfy]

Training montage.

Error 404 (Not Found)!!1

[Dr. Whom]

yup, that sums it about up

Also, that must have been a pretty important KGB agent to have a Mercedes Benz like that.

[Neville]

I enjoyed it. But note that I hated "Rocky IV" and hadn't seen it in years. Now most of the cheese is gone and the confrontation between Rocky and Drago is protrayed more as a one vs. one issue rather than as a Cold War event. Even Apollo is better fleshed out now.

But yeah, the editing is awkward. Apparently there was enough surplus footage for Stallone and his team to juggle, but now the supporting characters suffer from the alterations. Much has made about Brigitte Nielsen barely appearing now, but I missed Paulie more. If it wasn't for that great moment right before the Drago fight he'd be almost gone. It's not that there's any animosity between Stallone and Burt Young, it appears that Stallone wanted that 80s robot gone and he appears in several of Paulie's scenes.

I read somewhere that Stallone may try to redo Nighthawks and Rocky V next. These seem like good choices. Rocky V is so bad that any alteration might be for the better, and there have been reports of removed footage from Nighthawks for years, both in terms of violence and character development.