Editing Rocky IV (section)

==Reception==
===Box office===
Over the 5-day [[Thanksgiving]] weekend, it grossed a non-summer record $31,770,105.<ref>{{cite magazine |magazine=[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]] |page=6 |date=November 29, 1989 |title='Future II' blitzes b.o. with $43-mil; Harlem shaggy, 'Talking' quieter}}</ref> In its fourth week of release it expanded to a then-record 2,232 screens.<ref>{{AFI film|id=58336|title=Rocky IV}}</ref> It spent a total of six weeks as the [[List of 1985 box office number-one films in the United States|number one film at the US box office]], staying on top through the Christmas and [[New Year]]s period, and grossed a total of $127.8 million in United States and Canada, and $300.5 million worldwide, the most of any ''Rocky'' film. It was the highest-grossing sports film of all time, until ''[[The Blind Side (film)|The Blind Side]]'' (2009), which grossed $309 million (without accounting for inflation). It was also the highest-grossing fourth installment of a film in the United States and Canada, surpassing the record of ''[[Sudden Impact]]'' (1983).<ref>{{cite magazine |magazine=[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]] |date=June 30, 1997 |page=19 |title=Top Five Fourth Chapters}}</ref> Its success led to other studios opening major films over the Thanksgiving holiday.<ref>{{cite magazine |magazine=[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]] |page=7 |date=November 20, 1995 |title=Holiday B.O. looks tasty but not filling|last=Klady|first=Leonard}}</ref>

In the United Kingdom it also had a record opening, grossing £1,780,894 in its first five days.<ref>{{cite magazine|magazine=[[Screen International]]|date=3 January 1987|pages=8–9|title=That Was The Year That Was|last=Newport|first=David}}</ref>

Stallone has been quoted as saying the enormous financial success and fan-following of ''Rocky IV'' once had him envisioning another ''Rocky'' movie, devoted to Drago and his post-boxing life, with Balboa's storyline running parallel to Drago's. However, he noted the damage both boxers sustained in the fight made them "incapable of reason", and thus instead planned ''[[Rocky V]]'' as a showcase of the dangers of boxing.<ref>{{cite journal |title=Acting His Age? The Resurrection of the 80s Action Heroes and their Aging Stars |first=P. |last=Gates |journal=Quarterly Review of Film and Video |year=2010 |volume=27 |issue=4 |pages=276–289 |doi=10.1080/10509200802371113 |s2cid=192139757}}</ref>

===Critical response===
====Theatrical cut (1985)====
''Rocky IV'' has a 40% approval rating on review aggregator [[Rotten Tomatoes]], based on 50 critics with an average rating of 5.1/10. The website's critical consensus states, "''Rocky IV'' inflates the action to absurd heights, but it ultimately rings hollow thanks to a story that hits the same basic beats as the first three entries in the franchise."<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/rocky_iv/ |title=Rocky IV |website=Rotten Tomatoes|access-date=March 29, 2022}}</ref> On [[Metacritic]], the film has a score of 40 out of 100, based on 13 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".<ref name="MCReviews">{{cite web |url=https://www.metacritic.com/movie/rocky-iv |title=Rocky IV |website=[[Metacritic]]|access-date=November 27, 2015}}</ref>

[[Roger Ebert]] gave the film two out of four stars, stating that with this film the ''Rocky'' series began "finally losing its legs. It's been a long run, one hit movie after another, but ''Rocky IV'' is a last gasp, a film so predictable that viewing it is like watching one of those old sitcoms where the characters never change and the same situations turn up again and again."<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/rocky-iv-1985 |title=Rocky Iv Movie Review & Film Summary (1985) |author-link=Roger Ebert |last=Ebert |first=Roger |website=www.rogerebert.com |access-date=July 22, 2017}}</ref> Ian Nathan of ''[[Empire (magazine)|Empire]]'' gave the film two out of five stars, calling the script a "laughable turd" and describing ''Rocky IV'' as "the [film] where the ''Rocky'' series threw in the towel on the credibility."<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.empireonline.com/movies/rocky-iv/review/ |title=Rocky IV |last=Nathan |first=Ian |website=Empire |date=July 31, 2006 |access-date=July 22, 2017}}</ref>

[[Gene Siskel]] of the ''[[Chicago Tribune]]'' gave the film a 3.5 out of 4 stars, and stated in his review, "[Stallone] creates credible villains worthy of his heroic character."<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/1985/11/27/rocky-iv-produces-a-villain-youll-love-to-hate/ |title='Rocky Iv' Produces A Villain You'll Love To Hate |last=Siskel |first=Gene |website=[[Chicago Tribune]] |date=November 27, 1985 |language=en}}</ref>

====Director's cut (2021)====
The new cut, entitled ''Rocky IV: Rocky vs. Drago'', received better reviews from critics, mainly praising the fights (new choreography and sound),<ref name="Smith">{{Cite web|last=Smith|first=Jeremy|date=November 11, 2021|title=Stallone radically recut Rocky IV into another mixed (punching) bag|url=https://www.polygon.com/reviews/22777136/rocky-iv-directors-cut-review-stallone-rocky-vs-drogo|access-date=February 18, 2022|website=Polygon|language=en-US}}</ref> more dramatic tone and character development, but still criticising the plot.<ref name="empireonline.com">{{Cite web|title=Rocky IV: Rocky vs. Drago – The Ultimate Director's Cut|url=https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/rocky-iv-rocky-vs-drago-the-ultimate-director-cut/|access-date=February 18, 2022|website=Empire|date=November 18, 2021 }}</ref> {{Rotten Tomatoes prose|72|6.9|18|access-date=December 15, 2023}}<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/rocky_iv_rocky_vs_drago|title=Rocky IV: Rocky vs. Drago|website=[[Rotten Tomatoes]]|access-date=March 16, 2024}}</ref>

Jeremy Smith, from ''[[Polygon (website)|Polygon]]'', stated: "The triumph of Stallone’s director’s cut — with a pin-sharp focus on Apollo and Rocky’s relationship and its ruthless removal of anything which distracts — is that it not only nails the central message of the film, but the very point of it existing at all (montages aside)".<ref name="Smith"/>

In her review for ''[[Empire (film magazine)|Empire]]'', Terri White praised the clearer motivations in the director's cut: "It's a much more sombre context for the film (and goes some way to recontextualising the first three outings) and serves to subdue its worst indulgences. Without the gills of excess breathing quite so hard, the story of Rocky then pledging to fight Drago in [[Christmas in Russia|Russia on Christmas Day]] becomes clear: it's not about solving the Cold War or even a simple revenge yarn wrapped in bombastic patriotism. Rocky needs to find a way to break free of the code. To find a way to change. Apollo couldn't, it says now more explicitly, and he died because of it".<ref name="empireonline.com"/>

===Accolades===
Dolph Lundgren received acclaim for his performance as Ivan Drago. He won the Marshall Trophy for Best Actor at the Napierville Cinema Festival.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0089927/awards |title=''Rocky IV'': Award Wins and Nominations |publisher=[[IMDb]] |access-date= September 3, 2010}}</ref> ''Rocky IV'' also won [[West Germany|Germany]]'s [[Goldene Leinwand|Golden Screen Award]].

The film won five [[Golden Raspberry Awards]], including [[Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Actor|Worst Actor]] (Sylvester Stallone, along with ''[[Rambo: First Blood Part II]]''), [[Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Director|Worst Director]] (Stallone), [[Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Supporting Actress|Worst Supporting Actress]] (Brigitte Nielsen), [[Golden Raspberry Award for Worst New Star|Worst New Star]] (Nielsen, and also for ''[[Red Sonja (1985 film)|Red Sonja]]'') and [[Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Musical Score|Worst Musical Score]]. It also received nominations for [[Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Picture|Worst Picture]], [[Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Supporting Actress|Worst Supporting Actress]] (Talia Shire), [[Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Supporting Actor|Worst Supporting Actor]] (Burt Young) and [[Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Screenplay|Worst Screenplay]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://razzies.com/asp/content/XcNewsPlus.asp?cmd=view&articleid=26 |title=1985 Archive |author=Wilson, John |publisher=[[Golden Raspberry Award|Razzies.com]] |date=January 2, 2002 |access-date=October 22, 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141013200532/http://razzies.com/asp/content/XcNewsPlus.asp?cmd=view&articleid=26 |archive-date=October 13, 2014 }}</ref>

===Analysis===
Scholars note that the film's strong yet formulaic structure emphasizes the power of the individual, embodied by Rocky, the prototypically American hero who is inventive, determined, and idealistic.<ref>{{cite journal |title=Rocky IV, Rambo II, and the Place of the Individual in Modern American Society |first1=S. C. |last1=LeSueur |first2=D. |last2=Rehberger |journal=Journal of American Culture |volume=11 |issue=2 |pages=25–33 |year=1988 |doi=10.1111/j.1542-734X.1988.1102_25.x}}</ref> 
They contrast that with Ivan Drago's hyperbolic characterization as a representation of [[Soviet Empire|Soviet power]] in the context of the latter part of the [[Cold War]].<ref name=Lee>{{cite journal |last=Lee |first=Christina |title=Lock and Load(up): The Action Body in The Matrix |journal=Continuum: Journal of Media & Cultural Studies |year=2005 |volume=19 |issue=4 |page=560 |doi=10.1080/10304310500322909 |s2cid=143745508}}</ref><ref name=Lukynov>{{cite journal |last=Lukynov |first=Fyodor |title=America as the Mirror of Russian Phobias |journal=Social Research |year=2005 |volume=72 |issue=4 |pages=859–872 |doi=10.1353/sor.2005.0027 |jstor=40971800|s2cid=142242456 }}</ref> Writer/director Stallone highlights the nationalistic overtones of the Balboa–Drago fight throughout the film, such as when Drago's wife claims the United States is filled with "threats of violence" to her husband. Drago's trainer comments that [[Society of the United States|American society]] has become "pathetic and weak" and "antagonistic and violent", which has been likened to a common [[Definitions of fascism#By scholars|fascist trope]] depicting an enemy both weak and strong at the same time.<ref>{{cite book |chapter=Yo America, let's beat those Commies: Pro-American Propaganda in Rocky IV |first=M. |last=Munfa |title=Living in the Digital World |year=2003}}</ref> Drago represents the [[Totalitarianism|totalitarian regime]], demonstrating his power when he topples an arrogant opponent (Creed).<ref name=Rollin>{{cite book |chapter=Rocky IV Meets La Grande Illusion: Pedagogy and Theory in Popular Culture Study |title=The Americanization of the Global Village: Essays in Comparative Popular Culture |first=Roger B. |last=Rollin |publisher=Popular Press |year=1989 |isbn=0879724692}}</ref> Later on, the radio announcer says, "Ivan Drago is a man with an entire country in his corner."<ref name=Strada>{{cite book |last1=Strada |first1=Michael J. |title=Friend Or Foe?: Russians in American Film and Foreign Policy, 1933-1991 |year=1997 |publisher=Scarecrow Press |isbn=0810832453 |page=157 |last2=Troper |first2=Harold R.}}</ref>

===Reaction in Russia===
Russia's state-run [[Russia Beyond]] published an article in 2021, detailing the trip of a Russian [[goodwill ambassador]] [[Katya Lycheva]] to America in the 1980s. In the article, it is claimed that she objected to the character Ivan Drago, saying that the film uses him to vilify the Russian people: "In the movie ''Rocky IV'' there is not a word of truth about the Soviet Union. We don't even have such faces."<ref>{{cite web |url=https://aif.ru/society/history/devochka_kotoraya_hotela_mira_chto_plohogo_sdelala_katya_lycheva |title=The girl who wanted peace. What did Katya Lycheva do wrong? |work=[[Argumenty i Fakty]] |date=March 21, 2016 |language=ru}}</ref> Russia Beyond quoted an alleged American journalist saying: "What this film can be blamed for is the constant and shameless pressure on the audience to treat the Russians and their government with contempt, pity and disgust".<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://ru.rbth.com/read/388-katya-lycheva-america |title=Как девочка Катя Лычева встретилась с Рейганом и пыталась помирить СССР и США |access-date=2022-06-14 |archive-date=2021-06-13 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210613170020/https://ru.rbth.com/read/388-katya-lycheva-america }} In Russian</ref> In 2020, Russia's ''[[Maxim (magazine)|Maxim]]'' magazine ranked the film 8th in the list of "12 most delusional films about [[Russia]]", noting that "cinema takes its grudge against the most unpleasant, pre-Gorbachev Soviet realities. […] Soviet sports and party [[apparatchiks]] are portrayed in the film with incredible poison and malice".<ref>[https://www.maximonline.ru/longreads/_article/12-samykh-bredovykh-filmov-pro-rossiyu-v-poryadke-narastaniya-gradusa-klyukvy/ 12 most crazy films about Russia. In ascending order of degree cranberry]</ref>