rocky 4 film review
Steven Pinkerton
Sports and Film
May 30, 2014
In the great “Rocky” series, Rocky IV follows suit in the entertainment, drama and action columns, and yet again Sylvester Stallone pleases the crowd in this boxing thriller. Rocky IV delivers suspense, drama, a personal story line, which enables the viewer to relate to Rocky, action, and intense workout and boxing scenes. Sylvester Stallone is able to keep the viewer on the edge of their seat yet again in this third sequel. The film’s plot gets intriguing in the opening scenes and remains on that path with a combination of factors: Rocky Balboa and Apollo Creed becoming close friends, then the death of Apollo by the hands of the Soviet Union machine-like Drago in an exhibition match, only to have Rocky and the Russian boxer square off in the climax of the movie in Moscow are all reasons that lead me to give this movie a 4 ½ out of 5 possible stars. Sylvester Stallone does a great job not only acting in this movie but also directing it. The notion that I will focus and draw examples on is the idea of nationalism as portrayed in this film. Throughout the entire movie it is made evident that America is the dominant force, even from the beginning credits when two boxing gloves come into the screen: one with the United States flag and the other with the Soviet Union flag; and then in an instant, the gloves crash together and the glove with the Russian flag on it explodes suddenly. There are a plethora of other examples that indicate that America is the dominant country and that we had won, or were in the process of winning the Cold War, and the USSR inevitably being dismantled and in shambles. From James Brown singing “Living in America” to Apollo Creed’s Uncle Sam outfit before the exhibition match each contributed to the overall theme of creating the “American Hero” verse the “Russian Villains”, which was precisely what Stallone was striving for. Another key aspect of painting the Russians as the bad guys was
Sports and Film
May 30, 2014
In the great “Rocky” series, Rocky IV follows suit in the entertainment, drama and action columns, and yet again Sylvester Stallone pleases the crowd in this boxing thriller. Rocky IV delivers suspense, drama, a personal story line, which enables the viewer to relate to Rocky, action, and intense workout and boxing scenes. Sylvester Stallone is able to keep the viewer on the edge of their seat yet again in this third sequel. The film’s plot gets intriguing in the opening scenes and remains on that path with a combination of factors: Rocky Balboa and Apollo Creed becoming close friends, then the death of Apollo by the hands of the Soviet Union machine-like Drago in an exhibition match, only to have Rocky and the Russian boxer square off in the climax of the movie in Moscow are all reasons that lead me to give this movie a 4 ½ out of 5 possible stars. Sylvester Stallone does a great job not only acting in this movie but also directing it. The notion that I will focus and draw examples on is the idea of nationalism as portrayed in this film. Throughout the entire movie it is made evident that America is the dominant force, even from the beginning credits when two boxing gloves come into the screen: one with the United States flag and the other with the Soviet Union flag; and then in an instant, the gloves crash together and the glove with the Russian flag on it explodes suddenly. There are a plethora of other examples that indicate that America is the dominant country and that we had won, or were in the process of winning the Cold War, and the USSR inevitably being dismantled and in shambles. From James Brown singing “Living in America” to Apollo Creed’s Uncle Sam outfit before the exhibition match each contributed to the overall theme of creating the “American Hero” verse the “Russian Villains”, which was precisely what Stallone was striving for. Another key aspect of painting the Russians as the bad guys was