I was so excited about the Slyvester Stallone Director's Cut of Rocky IV-- 36 years after it's initial release in November of 1985.  We talked about it yesterday on "Don't Hassle Us We're Local" and I posted a preview about the film yesterday-- link HERE.

The movie did not disappoint.  It is not a remake entirely but the story is a little bit more personal and they take away some of the cheesiness from the original.  It will be on Amazon for Streaming starting today.  Here is some things you can expect:

  • The robot (Paulie's birthday present) is completely gone-- thank goodness.  In 1985, it seemed to make sense I guess but it does not in 2021
  • The newer version tries to give a little more humanity to Adrian's character.  Instead of "YOU CAN'T WIN!" it is "IT'S SUICIDE"-- showing she cares too much about Rocky's life.  I don't care.  I still don't like her.
  • The "basement exhibition fight" between Apollo and Rocky is gone.  Apollo's desire to fight Drago is more based on the rush of being in the ring in front of the people instead of having what it takes to still fight.
  • There is bonus footage of the eulogy at Apollo's funeral and it is a tear jerker and so, so good.
  • Duke has a lot more of screen time in this film-- maybe because Tony Burton passed away recently but still really important.
  • Duke saying, "TAKE HIS HEART!" will make the hairs on the back of your neck erect.
  • All of the soundtrack montages are still in the film.
  • There is only one scene of Rocky and his son.  The previous scenes were sort of bad-- instead the one they added is Rocky giving more of an inspirational speech before he heads to Russia to train for the fight.
  • The Q&A with Slyvester Stallone is only about 20 minutes and it is great when he drops that he would like to do a Netflix type series based on the prequel to Rocky.

Here is a little preview of the Q&A with Stallone that was shown before the film.

Stream this on Amazon and prepare for the prequel series that will most certainly drop sometime after January of 2023.

 

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