When Titans Clashed
in Rocky IV

Rivalries are the bread and butter of any good sports movie, and Rocky IV had the best. With all due respect to Apollo Creed, who did a good job as Rocky's rival in the first few Rocky movies, I prefer Ivan Drago. He's the best rival there ever was.

Rocky's rivalry with Apollo Creed was more inspirational than anything else. What started as typical antagonism became a sort of positive pressure for Rocky to keep improving and challenging himself to be the champion fighter he eventually becomes. It's a nice dynamic, and it's great to see these two men push each other to do their best, but I always felt that the stakes weren't high enough.

It's only when Ivan Drago came onto the scene and the matches literally became life or death that, in my opinion, things finally got exciting. The stakes couldn't get any higher than possibly losing your life after losing the match. It was wild!

They also couldn't have picked a better Ivan Drago than Dolph Lundgren. That signature Scandinavian stoicism gave the character a chilling coldness, making every line he uttered feel credible. More than just a clash of titans, you could really feel like Drago could kill Rocky and not even care.

What's even better is that Lundgren isn’t like that in real life. He was much warmer in person when I met him at the Creed II premiere in New York City in 2018. The spin-off sequel marked his return to the franchise, and it was the first time Rocky and Drago shared a movie again since Rocky IV.

I know Dolph Lundgren is great at the straight-faced, stone-cold European archetype, but in person, he's much more personable and expressive. He even gave me a big smile when I asked him to sign my Rocky IV movie poster, and it almost threw me off.

The movie also reunited him with Brigitte Nielsen, who played his ex-wife in Rocky IV. Now that I think of it, Creed II wasn't just a sequel to the first Creed movie, itself a spinoff from the Rocky franchise, but also to Rocky IV. They could have skipped all the other movies in between and just done this right after, and it still would've made sense.

Anyway, Brigitte Nielsen was just as beautiful in person, and was very nice when I asked for her autograph. Sylvester Stallone was there too, naturally, and it was a thrill to see the stars of the original 1985 movie on the same carpet again.

I'd already gotten Stallone's and Talia Shire's autographs on the same poster, so Lundgren and Nielsen completed the set. I met Stallone at The Expendables 2 premiere in LA in 2012, and Shire at The Godfather reunion at the 2017 Tribeca Film Festival. They were just as delightful as I expected.

Anyone who loves sports movies and enjoys seeing titans clash will love Rocky IV. I honestly think it's the best film in both the Rocky and Creed franchises, with the most exciting (fake) boxing match you'll ever see in the cinema.