Time to look back at Stallone’s greatest heroes, Rocky Balboa and John Rambo.
ROLLING STONE brings all films into a common ranking.
13. Rocky V (1990)
★
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Stallone was only 44, but he looked almost older than he does today. Swollen. The 1980s were over – and after the end of the Cold War, Rocky ran out of opponents. With the real boxer Tommy Morrison (role name: “Tommy Gunn”), Stallone now took on an opponent who seemed no less unfit and unsympathetic. The idea of installing Balboa as his trainer and then having a street fight with the misguided protégé at the end is not a bad one. At that time, however, people wanted to see Stallone as a boxer, if at all, in the ring.
The message is strange: in the end, the teacher (Rocky) remains the winner, as usual, and the student (Gunn) has learned nothing – which in itself makes the film superfluous. Stallone reactivated the director of the first “Rocky”, John G. Avildsen, and both had to watch their work sink at the box office. The champ back then was called: “Kevin – Home Alone”.
12. Rambo III (1988)
★
A copy of “Rambo II” – the same fat helicopter aka final monster, action with the hi-tech bow, the hero escapes from captivity and fights back. Just everything in bad or blue. The dialogue “What is that?” – “Blue light” – “What does it do” – “It glows blue” is still considered the highlight of the film today. At the very least, it caricatures the title character’s simple worldview focused on clear goals, as well as gun fetishism in general.
Rambo, his mullet more magnificent and shiny than ever, is now fighting in Afghanistan, defending himself with the Taliban against the Russians. It is not known that the ex-elite soldier could have promoted the actual withdrawal of the Soviets from the country with this work. It’s hard to imagine that the Afghan rebels from “Rambo III” will still find sympathy after Nine Eleven, at least in America.
11. Rambo (2008)
★★
The origin story was not unspectacular; Stallone set a high bar when conceiving the story: In which country is the most brutal regime wreaking havoc? The now 62-year-old wanted to send his Vietnam veteran there to ensure justice. Instead of circling his finger on the globe, he asked those in the know and came up with Myanmar (Burma).
The film, also known as “John Rambo”, should, similar to “Rocky Balboa” from 2006, REALLY conclude their predecessors (“Rocky V” and “Rambo III”), which were already considered conclusions but were disappointing. “Rambo” is halfway successful.
“Rambo” is actually incredibly bloody, especially at the beginning, and the character of the broken Special Forces soldier is given a few subtle dialogue moments so that he can communicate his worldview. Rambo ends the jungle shootout with the main villain, somewhat unspectacularly, with a knife stab from behind the scenes.
Maybe Stallone shouldn’t have tasked his hero with protecting Western Christian missionaries, but rather only locals who are actually suffering under Burma’s SPDC government.
10. “Creed II” (2018)
★★½
Adonis Creed meets Viktor Drago – Apollo’s son wants to take revenge for the death of his father, who was beaten to death in the ring by Viktor’s father Ivan in 1985. Adonis’ trainer Rocky wants to talk him out of it. That’s not how you bring the past back to life, explains the wise Balboa. But he secretly fears that the Russian is superior to his protégé.
What makes “Creed” a masterful film, why does this sequel fail to convince for long stretches? Ryan Coogler, director of the first film, was able to convey a rising star story in which Rocky Balboa as a sidekick really remained just a sidekick. Steven Caple Jr.’s follow-up work, on the other hand, uses typical patterns of this boxer saga. Adonis has become an arrogant world champion, just like Rocky was. And old Balboa now always thinks two steps ahead. It’s actually Rocky’s story. African-American filmmaker Caple Jr. tells a story about a white man.
Stylistically, this USA vs. Russia film is very similar to the first USA vs. USSR film, Rocky 4. There are training montages and a somewhat clichéd love scene set to R&B sounds between Adonis and his wife Bianca (Tessa Thompson, who, however, doesn’t go beyond the role of “Caring Housewife” here). Since the fight between Creed and Drago takes place within the first hour, the hero will of course have to be defeated first – according to Rocky law. Adonis will rise from the valley of misery and try harder to defeat the opponent in the rematch.
Ivan Drago’s son Viktor is played by a man named Florian Munteanu, and that says it all: From 1990’s “Rocky 5” onwards, there were no more charismatic opponents for Balboa (nor for Creed), none with star appeal. Cardboard characters with no brains.
The same cannot be said of Ivan Drago, whose return was hotly anticipated: Dolph Lundgren has a confident performance – there is only one meeting with Stallone, in a diner, like a more menacing version of the meeting between De Niro and Pacino in ” Heat”. What is astonishing is that Ivan feels no remorse for being a manslaughterer, that he was not able to chalk up the fight between him and the Americans as a battle of systems, that he did not despair of communism or the fact that it was exploited, and that he rather sticks to his ways .
Ivan’s sad story is well laid out: after his defeat in Moscow in 1985, not only did he have to move into the Ukrainian prefabricated building impoverished, but his son, whom he raised harshly, actually considers him a failure. But Ludmilla caused him the greatest pain: his wife left him after the defeat against Balboa. He only wants revenge against the Americans to win their hearts back.
Ludmilla actress Brigitte Nielsen is only seen briefly, but she hasn’t lost her presence – although we most recently remembered her as the jungle queen. Adonis Creed, Viktor Drago and Ivan Drago are both fighting for family honor, but for different reasons.
09. “Rocky II” (1979)
★★½
The sequel to the legendary “Rocky” is not a bad film. It’s just that it’s more like a remake, just with a different ending – and of course the ending had to be different than the previous one, otherwise moviegoers would have felt ripped off. This sequel may not seem brave because of Rocky’s triumph, but it is consistent – Stallone wanted to go into series production with the boxer. It was clear that he would knock out Apollo Creed in the second attempt. The question was: How does he do that?
Rocky catches the chicken, Paulie whines, Adrian suffers in silence, the quirky Mickey gets upset with his protégé, who in turn does crazy tricks while jumping rope. Rocky also presents us with his Philadelphia while jogging again.
With the showdown in slow motion – who will make it off the ring floor first? – Stallone then came up with a somewhat unrealistic but exciting alternative to the first “Rocky” fight.
08. “Rocky Balboa” (2006)
★★½
When Stallone announced the boxer’s comeback 16 years after his last “Rocky”, everyone only wanted one thing: for him to finally take off his shirt so that they could check whether the now 60-year-old’s body was still in good shape. He was. The man didn’t embarrass himself. With Mason “The Line” Dixon (Antonio Traver), Stallone had chosen a similarly laughable opponent as he did with “Tommy Gunn” in “Rocky V”. Above all, the ex-champ’s motivation to get back into the ring seemed very zeitgeisty – the impetus for the comeback was provided by “his” outstanding performance in a computer simulation in which Balboa beats Dixon.
However, Stallone brings his Rocky back to the right flying height as an actor. The widower mourns Adrian, and in a moving scene he explains to his old companion Paulie (Burt Young) why he will seek the challenge again. He struggles for words. He doesn’t find any. That’s Rocky.
Two different endings were filmed for the boxing match. Once he wins, once he loses. Stallone then decided on the right ending.
07. “Rocky IV” (“Rocky IV – The Fight of the Century”, 1985)
★★★
It was no coincidence that Stallone’s most successful year in cinema fell during a peak phase of the Cold War. While John Rambo (in “First Blood – Part II”) Vietnamese and Destroying Russians in the jungle, Rocky took on the toughest of all Russians – Ivan Drago (Dolph Lundgren), the fighting machine with the three-ton punch. The giant was a perfect opponent, and the film provided a perfect stylization of the era. The Russian is evil, doped and trained, under the watchful eye of Brigitte Nielsen, only in the underground studio; Rocky, who accepted the invitation to Moscow, works on logs in the snow-drifted forest, shaping his body in and through nature. Ami, stop.
“Rocky IV” has impressive fight scenes, and with the necessary distance, this US propaganda film is a lot of fun. The ending, in which Stallone calls for fraternization, is absolutely consistent, consistently stupid: even the Gorbachev lookalike has to stand up from his place at ringside and applaud.
This isn’t the best “Rocky” flick, but it has, it’s a tough race, probably the best songs: “Hearts On Fire” by John Cafferty and Robert Tepper’s “No Easy Way Out” go head-to-head. Head race. Of course, this is the 1980s, both were put into a training montage. And how is Drago welcomed in America? From James Brown, who insisted on belting out a “Living In America” to Ivan himself.