Rocky vs The Soviet Union

Rocky IV (1985)

Once again directed, written by and staring Sylvester Stallone this film also features Dolph Lundgren, Talia Shire, Burt Young and Carl Weathers. After Apollo Creed dies fighting a boxer from the Soviet Union our hero goes in search of revenge for his friend.

The film starts out with a good deal of promise as the early parts with Creed look like the film might be thematically similar to The Wrestler (2008) but unfortunately the film heads off down the route of simplistic Cold War propaganda. At times the script is really lacking on plot and the film has to rely on excessive use of montage and clips from the previous film to make it's run time. While the boxing elements are fairly well staged they are nothing above what you have seen before in the series and this is a heavily formulaic entry.

2/5