Drago - The Ultimate Director's Cut. A director's cut of Rocky IV, released for the film's 35th anniversary. Removes much of the film's original scenes and replaces them with 38 minutes of previously unseen footage.
It also stars Talia Shire, Burt Young, Carl Weathers, Brigitte Nielsen, and Dolph Lundgren. In the film, Rocky Balboa (Stallone) confronts Ivan Drago (Lundgren), a Soviet boxer responsible for another personal tragedy in Balboa's life.
While the list of changes is extensive, the main changes came from removing the infamous robot, adding more dramatic beats such as Adrian concerned about Apollo's reasoning to fight Drago, a sequence after Apollo's funeral in which Rocky blames himself for his death, Adrian's fear of Rocky leaving for Russia, as well ...
The original theatrical cut of Rocky IV is 91 minutes long. The new director's cut of the movie runs 93 minutes. But it's got a lot more new material than what's in those 120 extra seconds. According to the film's press release, Rocky IV's director's cut (which is officially titled Rocky IV: Rocky vs.
More impactfully, Stallone restored entire scenes that were previously left on the cutting room floor, and he also altered the unforgettable ending of Rocky IV so that the film ends on a slightly different note and feel than the 1985 theatrical version.
The best fight in the entire franchise can be found in the first Rocky movie, with the original fight between Rocky Balboa and Apollo Creed at the top of the list. There are very few boxing matches in the first Rocky, making the final fight even more impactful.
The film received mixed to negative reviews from critics, with criticism for its screenplay, characterization, continuity errors, and medical inaccuracies; Stallone later expressed regret over the outcome of the film. It is usually considered the worst film of the Rocky series.
Despite being the face of the Rocky franchise, Stallone chose not to appear in Creed III due to creative differences with producer Irwin Winkler as well as with Jordan, although he is still a producer on the film. According to Stallone, the film had a much darker tone that he didn't agree with.
Unlike the first fight, Apollo has trained heavily. In order to protect his vulnerable eye, Rocky opts to fight right-handed rather than his natural southpaw, but this leaves him at a major disadvantage, as he is knocked down twice by Creed and outclassed for much of the fight.
She is a Soviet gold-medal swimmer who is the ex-wife and spokeswoman to Soviet captain Ivan Drago. Compared to Ivan himself, she is more despicable as she abandoned him after he lost to Rocky Balboa, and later appeared to have gone unchanged when interacting with her own estranged son Viktor.
Rocky: During this fight, I've seen a lot of changing, in the way you feel about me, and in the way I feel about you. In here, there were two guys killing each other, but I guess that's better than twenty million. I guess what I'm trying to say, is that if I can change, and you can change, everybody can change!
After his loss to Rocky, Drago was disgraced by the USSR and Ludmilla left him to raise their son, Viktor, on his own. Following the end of the Cold War, Drago was forced to move to Ukraine, where he lived a modest life while relentlessly training Viktor to be an even more formidable boxer than he was.
After all, we're talking about a 42-year-old Apollo Creed who hasn't fought professionally in years taking on a 24-year-old Ivan Drago who holds the record for the strongest punch ever recorded. The Master of Disaster sizing up the Siberian Bull.
But when he can't stop his hands from shaking after the fight with Drago, doctors confirm that all the fights and blows to the head have taken their toll on Rocky; he has suffered brain damage and is told to stop fighting if he wants to continue living.
Mickey's death proves to be a galvanizing moment for Rocky. His previous comments about Rocky getting too "civilized" after winning the championship were proved by his beating at the hands of Lang, and his death is what motivates Rocky to push past his defeat and come back stronger.
With the death of Mary Anne in Creed 3, Michael B. Jordan's Adonis Creed has lost all three of his parents. However, Rocky Balboa is still alive and serves as another father figure to him, which would make his return far more impactful.
“Rocky V” (1990) — Easily the worst of the “Rocky” films. In this installment, Rocky Balboa (Sylvester Stallone) learns he has some lingering effects from the beating he took at the hands of Ivan Drago.
The story is not so focused on Rocky himself, but split between Rocky, the troubles of his son, and the rise of his protégé Tommy Gunn. That splintering as well as the change in format and the street fight ending are the biggest issues fans have with Rocky V.
Rocky declines. After returning home, Rocky and Adrian discover they are broke after Paulie was fooled into signing a "power of attorney" over to Rocky's accountant, who squandered all of his money on real estate deals gone sour and failed to pay Rocky's taxes over the previous six years.
Ivan Drago: Drago was a Soviet boxer who was trained to be a killing machine. He was incredibly strong and had a powerful punch. Rocky faced Drago in a 15-round fight in Rocky IV, and it was one of the most brutal fights in boxing history.
Considering everything mentioned above, Rocky Balboa would clearly be victorious, as his career is currently completely unmatched by Adonis. Rocky's fighting style is also superior to Creed's, most notably his almost superhuman ability to take a beating and keep moving forward.
