efusing to deviate from the tried-and-true formula, “Rocky IV” opens with a replay of the last round from the previous film, even going so far as to take the successful new song “Eye of the Tiger” (the composer has changed for the first time, promising a slightly different score) for its recap. It then reiterates that trainer Apollo Creed (Carl Weathers) demanded a favor from Rocky (Sylvester Stallone) for his help, which was to have a private rematch, away from cameras and fans, just to satisfy his knowledge about which pugilist is the real champion. Then it gets the tinier dramas out of the way, including crotchety Paulie’s (Burt Young) birthday party (featuring a futuristic personal robot) and Rocky’s reassertion of love to his wife Adrian (Talia Shire).

The main premise is once again just boxing matches. With the political environment of the era, the Soviet Union becomes an easy enemy, represented by Russia’s Captain Ivan Drago (Dolph Lundgren), nicknamed “The Siberian Express,” who says almost nothing, letting his wife Ludmilla (Brigitte Nielsen) speak for him. Presumptuous Apollo insists on taking him on first in an exhibition bout, undeterred by how tall, muscular, and young this fresh opponent is. It’s an early face-off, which ends in a tragic manner (anticipated, perhaps, for audiences familiar with how this franchise has handled multiple matches in a single film), prompting Rocky to wind up in the ring for some revenge.

As the shortest entry in the series, “Rocky IV” wastes no time getting right into the establishment of antagonists and the duels themselves. And Lundgren makes for an impressively formidable nemesis, though he’s a one-note persona – an unfeeling juggernaut designed solely to be a herculean challenge for the over-the-hill lead. With the colorful characters that keep popping up in these pictures, it’s almost as if writer/director Stallone is concocting James Bond types of baddies to thwart, convinced that realistic fighters would be uninteresting to returning audiences. “You can’t win!”

It’s also an obvious capitalization on the concepts of East versus West, communism versus democracy, Russia versus the United States, and the evolution of the sport versus old-school traditionalism (or hi-tech machinery and readouts versus more primitive techniques, suggesting that the East has superior resources available). And it’s also not a fair fight, since Drago is shown to be using performance-enhancing drugs. With fleeting supplementary sequences (once again, Adrian and their son contribute very little to the plot), no additional supporting roles outside of the villains, and the runtime stretched with flashbacks, it’s not surprising that Rocky heads to an isolated spot in Russia to train before his climactic showdown. The plot is pared back to the bare minimum, presenting opposition and a venue, workout montages, and then plenty of barbarous action in the ring. There really isn’t much else at play.

At least Rocky has reverted to the underdog (it’s a completely uneven contest until the hero manages to make Drago bleed), striving for victory in an unsupportive environment, battling it out for the last 20 minutes in some ruthless trading of punches. As in previous chapters, Rocky takes a ludicrous quantity of blows to his face and body, seemingly incapable of tiring out. In the end, it’s an unlikely psychological test (and a bit of idealistic international goodwill), since from a physical standpoint, the Russian appears to have all the advantages. “This is shaping up to be a personal war!”

– Mike Massie