Rocky and James Bond are moving on to a fancy new training ground now that Amazon has finalized its MGM acquisition, which came bundled with the two legendary film franchises. However, that won't be robbing the Italian Stallion of any of his nostalgic charm. Just ask Sylvester Stallone, who has recently shared an official poster and release date for his own Rocky 4: Director's Cut, coming this fall.
Stallone has never really been shy of exploiting Rocky's nostalgic appeal, proof of it being 2006's Rocky Balboa revival, which not only became a huge box office success running on a modest $24 million budget, it also garnered wide critical acclaim for the way it reintroduced the character nearly two decades after the much-maligned Rocky 5. It was precisely that move that made the new Creed saga possible in the first place, with Stallone finally hanging up his gloves as Michael B. Jordan prepares for a similar director/protagonist challenge.
While Rocky 4 has never been the franchise's most glorified entry, the movie does bear a certain uniqueness to it in large part due to the Cold War politics that saw Rocky go up against the formidable Soviet champion Ivan Drago. In fact, Rocky 4 actually serves as the main background story for the first two Creed movies, with both Apollo Creed's death and the introduction of the Drago family being key plot points. Now, fans will get to relive those two key events when the director's cut of Rocky 4 releases in November in full widescreen in 4K glory.
The artwork for the Rocky 4: Director's Cut poster, credited by Stallone to artist John Rivoli, does a great job at capturing the franchise's vintage boxing feel in a way that wouldn't make it stand out from any of the other posters that adorn Adonis Creed and Rocky's own gym. Although not much has been made public regarding what kind of changes or new content fans can expect to find in this new director's cut, most will be pleased that Stallone's pandemic project will finally be ready almost one full year since it was originally supposed to be released.
Rocky 4 does not go light on spectacle, with the first opening moments featuring clashing gloves of the United States and the former Soviet Union to the sound of "Eye of the Tiger," all while audiences are treated to a small recap of Rocky's epic battle with Clubber Lang. On top of that, the film adds not one but several cherries on top, like Brigitte Nielsen's appearance in the movie, the references to Soviet doping scandals that still continue to plague Olympic sports, and even political digs by showing a fake Mikhail Gorbachev applaud Rocky just as the Soviet Union was on the verge of collapsing.
At its heart, Rocky 4 is a reminder of how different the world was 36 years ago and it captures it in a way only an '80s movie could achieve, making it very well worth watching regardless of whatever Stallone did with it after all this time.
Rocky 4: Director's Cut will be released on November 11, 2021.
Source: @officialslystallone|Instagram