Rocky IV: Rocky vs. Drago

Yes I saw the Director's Cut that Stallone put together. It's available for streaming now but was shown theatrically last night, which is how I experienced it.

Note that I am reviewing the Rocky IV: Rocky vs. Drago cut that Fathom Events showed last night nationwide, although if you were like me none of the Fathom Events branding appeared at my screening, which meant no promised Sly Q&A. I dunno as to what happened there but nevertheless, it was nice to see something theatrically that is still so 80's-tastic even in this new cut.

I wrote about the OG Rocky IV a few years ago; it was good overall. This new version does try to be “more serious” as most famously the robot is entirely excised; while it is technically better not to have that comedy present which is always awkwardly shoehorned in, the robot's presence is so strange it is unintentionally hilarious. At least all that glorious 80's soundtrack/songs and montages are present... not to mention that while it is not as coke-fueled as before, it sure as hell still is jingoistic, which has to be why this was shown on Veterans Day.

Overall, I rate this as about the same as what came out in 1985. The rest of this review will note the major changes that I noticed; as it's now available for streaming, you can skip the rest of this if you plan on watching that & want to be surprised. As for what I spotted:

* Both boxing fights are extended, w/ new sound effects. That was nice.

* No surprise that the end credits are completely different; perhaps a little more surprising is that there are no opening credits in the entirely new opening which is an extension of what happens in Rocky III.

* Sly did save money by not having Paulie listen to The Chipmunk Song on his Walkman in the Soviet Union; instead we have no idea what Paulie is hearing.

* The first act has the most excised material by far.

* Duke does get more to do, including a nice speech at Apollo's funeral.

* The No Easy Way Out montage is not only longer, the flashback footage is in black and while; why not?

* There were some minor differences not even worth noting.

Even if this is more “serious”, it still has Rocky randomly climbing a mountain & the implication that he alone toppled Communism... Rocky IV is still cheesy.