From the opening bell, Drago pummels Apollo into a bloody pulp, resulting in an ignominious exit for one of the great figures in franchise history.ĭuring the pandemic, the now 75-year-old Stallone found himself looking for a solo project, so he went back into the editing room to deliver a fresh and quite different cut, with some 40 minutes of the original film removed and 42 minutes of material added. That robot is to the “Rocky” franchise what Jar Jar Binks is to “Star Wars.” Dramatically more troubling was the harsh manner in which Apollo’s death was handled in the so-called exhibition bout against Drago in Vegas. The downside? The cringe-inducing, saccharine subplot about Burt Young’s Paulie receiving a robot named Sico as a birthday present and becoming best friends with the contraption. Had I reviewed “Rocky IV” upon its release, I would have given it three stars and cited highlights such as the fabulously over-the-top James Brown “Living in America” number, the genuinely shocking fate of Apollo Creed - and the addition of Dolph Lundgren’s Ivan Drago, who ranks second only to Carl Weathers’ Apollo as the most memorable of all of Rocky’s opponents through the decades.
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