Announced in August, last year. Supposed to come out at the end of this year.
ROCKY IV Director's Cut
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Announced in August, last year. Supposed to come out at the end of this year.
JoMamma_Smurf
Master Member
So Sly did a complete recut of Rocky 4 and did a Fathom even for it. I just got home from seeing it and WOW. What an amazing experience. This is a completely different movie and made a classic FAR better. I'm pretty sure it hits Amazon tomorrow but seeing it in a sold out theater full of fans was a once in a lifetime experience. I'll never forget it. See this movie ASAP. How different it is will blow you away in all the right ways.
Glad you posted this thread. I wasn't sure if it might be too late for it.
I saw it last night too and it was an awesome experience. Our local theater was sold out for one screen so they added another this past week. I think this might have been a record for a Fathom event. There were so many fans there. Even though I try to avoid crowds, there was a definite buzz you could feel and it made the night better. Just goes to show how special Rocky is for all of us.
Overall I loved a lot about this new director's cut and could see what Sly was going for. Of course there were some some things I thought worked better in the original. The plot structure is the same with footage restored to certain scenes, other scenes given different takes, and some scenes removed all together. Amazingly the end result gives the story a much different feel. Rocky IV was the most "blockbustery" of the Rocky series. Kind of a spectacle but in the best kind of way. This new cut is very much an effort to bring the story back to the character study feel of I & II and it succeeds to a point but can only go so far and because of it, it still sits closer to III.
POSSIBLE SPOILERS: I'll try to be brief...
Most scenes are given some extra dialogue that helps flesh out the characters a bit more. Apollo is more prominent in the story. The most apparent changes are the very beginning and end of the film. The new opening, like the original, flashes back to Rocky III (minus the US/Soviet boxing gloves) but focuses more on scenes with Apollo and Rocky rather than just the final moments of the Clubber Lang fight and Rocky/Apollo "rematch". It works better for the tone of this cut but I have to say I missed the Eye of the Tiger opening. The ending is similar in that it's more subdued. Rocky still gives his post fight speech but it's a restrained take and he mentions (which I loved) what Apollo said to him which ties nicely into the more focused theme of the movie. Also it ends with Eye of the Tiger instead of Hearts On Fire as the outro song. In the context of this new cut, this ending works better but again I missed the energy of the original ending.
One scene that came out better was the funeral scene as Rocky has emotional last words for his fallen friend. In the original, he's more composed. Here you get a better impression of what Apollo meant to Rocky. Duke gets some dialogue here as well.
Adrian gets some more dialogue and a quick scene where she says goodbye to Rocky before he leaves for Russia. Again, this was a good choice as Adrian comes off less stern here and her fear for Rocky becomes more understandable.
Drago gets a tiny bit more screen time and a little moment I liked where he looks visibly annoyed with his handler. Drago's wife gets less screen time interestingly.
The one choice I thought was a total mistake was to give [vocalize] Rocky inner dialogue during the Drago fight. It was completely unnecessary. 3 & 1/2 movies in, we know what Rocky is thinking just by looking at him. It's a little jarring since you never hear inner dialogue at any point prior in the series. It also didn't help that it sounded like Stallone might've recorded those lines recently. Maybe it was recorded at the time but either way it sounded out of place. I'm not sure but it also sounded like maybe some deleted ringside commentary had been reinserted though it didn't seem like it was blended into the sound mix properly. I could be totally wrong.
Other little tidbits here and there were changed. We get a mention of why Rocky doesn't have a sparring partner in Russia. Some humor was left out, most notably Pauly's robot and him listening to Alvin and the Chipmunks. This might have been done for copyright reasons. I noticed a few other lines taken out and various scenes that probably could have remained.
All in all I enjoyed it. Like I said I think some aspects of the film should have been left the same but some of the changes were for the better. Even though this version is slightly longer, the pacing felt rushed (mainly in the beginning) compared to the original. Scenes like Pauly's birthday, while too silly for the tone of this director's cut hence its omission, helped the original cut breath. I'm hoping there will be an ultimate cut of some kind where the cutting room floor footage is put in but most of the rest of the original cut remains intact.
It's so fascinating to have an opportunity to watch two different cuts of a movie and see what works and what doesn't and honestly, somtimes the director isn't always right. I think Sly got most of it right here but I can understand why the original cut was the way it was for what they were going for.
One last word about Sylvester Stallone. He gets some grief for his acting and a lot of the not so great movies he's made but I love the guy. Even though he's thought of as an action star alongside Arnold Schwarzenegger and Bruce Willis, he's much more than that. Listening to him in the pre-show featurette sitting in his dinky screening room talking about Rocky and briefly about his own life was a joy. The man's a filmmaker. Even if those films aren't always so great, there's a sincerity with him that you don't get out of 95% of Hollywood. He's an incredible story himself.
So yeah it was a fun night. I really hope after the success of RvD, Fathom decides to screen the whole series. Rocky is an icon. Getting to watch part IV in the theater reminded me of when movies could be so powerful and uplifting. I miss those days.
I saw it last night too and it was an awesome experience. Our local theater was sold out for one screen so they added another this past week. I think this might have been a record for a Fathom event. There were so many fans there. Even though I try to avoid crowds, there was a definite buzz you could feel and it made the night better. Just goes to show how special Rocky is for all of us.
Overall I loved a lot about this new director's cut and could see what Sly was going for. Of course there were some some things I thought worked better in the original. The plot structure is the same with footage restored to certain scenes, other scenes given different takes, and some scenes removed all together. Amazingly the end result gives the story a much different feel. Rocky IV was the most "blockbustery" of the Rocky series. Kind of a spectacle but in the best kind of way. This new cut is very much an effort to bring the story back to the character study feel of I & II and it succeeds to a point but can only go so far and because of it, it still sits closer to III.
POSSIBLE SPOILERS: I'll try to be brief...
Most scenes are given some extra dialogue that helps flesh out the characters a bit more. Apollo is more prominent in the story. The most apparent changes are the very beginning and end of the film. The new opening, like the original, flashes back to Rocky III (minus the US/Soviet boxing gloves) but focuses more on scenes with Apollo and Rocky rather than just the final moments of the Clubber Lang fight and Rocky/Apollo "rematch". It works better for the tone of this cut but I have to say I missed the Eye of the Tiger opening. The ending is similar in that it's more subdued. Rocky still gives his post fight speech but it's a restrained take and he mentions (which I loved) what Apollo said to him which ties nicely into the more focused theme of the movie. Also it ends with Eye of the Tiger instead of Hearts On Fire as the outro song. In the context of this new cut, this ending works better but again I missed the energy of the original ending.
One scene that came out better was the funeral scene as Rocky has emotional last words for his fallen friend. In the original, he's more composed. Here you get a better impression of what Apollo meant to Rocky. Duke gets some dialogue here as well.
Adrian gets some more dialogue and a quick scene where she says goodbye to Rocky before he leaves for Russia. Again, this was a good choice as Adrian comes off less stern here and her fear for Rocky becomes more understandable.
Drago gets a tiny bit more screen time and a little moment I liked where he looks visibly annoyed with his handler. Drago's wife gets less screen time interestingly.
The one choice I thought was a total mistake was to give [vocalize] Rocky inner dialogue during the Drago fight. It was completely unnecessary. 3 & 1/2 movies in, we know what Rocky is thinking just by looking at him. It's a little jarring since you never hear inner dialogue at any point prior in the series. It also didn't help that it sounded like Stallone might've recorded those lines recently. Maybe it was recorded at the time but either way it sounded out of place. I'm not sure but it also sounded like maybe some deleted ringside commentary had been reinserted though it didn't seem like it was blended into the sound mix properly. I could be totally wrong.
Other little tidbits here and there were changed. We get a mention of why Rocky doesn't have a sparring partner in Russia. Some humor was left out, most notably Pauly's robot and him listening to Alvin and the Chipmunks. This might have been done for copyright reasons. I noticed a few other lines taken out and various scenes that probably could have remained.
All in all I enjoyed it. Like I said I think some aspects of the film should have been left the same but some of the changes were for the better. Even though this version is slightly longer, the pacing felt rushed (mainly in the beginning) compared to the original. Scenes like Pauly's birthday, while too silly for the tone of this director's cut hence its omission, helped the original cut breath. I'm hoping there will be an ultimate cut of some kind where the cutting room floor footage is put in but most of the rest of the original cut remains intact.
It's so fascinating to have an opportunity to watch two different cuts of a movie and see what works and what doesn't and honestly, somtimes the director isn't always right. I think Sly got most of it right here but I can understand why the original cut was the way it was for what they were going for.
One last word about Sylvester Stallone. He gets some grief for his acting and a lot of the not so great movies he's made but I love the guy. Even though he's thought of as an action star alongside Arnold Schwarzenegger and Bruce Willis, he's much more than that. Listening to him in the pre-show featurette sitting in his dinky screening room talking about Rocky and briefly about his own life was a joy. The man's a filmmaker. Even if those films aren't always so great, there's a sincerity with him that you don't get out of 95% of Hollywood. He's an incredible story himself.
So yeah it was a fun night. I really hope after the success of RvD, Fathom decides to screen the whole series. Rocky is an icon. Getting to watch part IV in the theater reminded me of when movies could be so powerful and uplifting. I miss those days.
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I didn't know this was even happening. I'm not sure if my theater is having that screening or not but I'll be sure to check this out now.
Reading this was a bummer because we've never needed to hear what Rocky says or thinks in a fight because we know it by just his physicality! We know by the "story" of the fight and each of their movements. This seems like a last minute addition, one I'm not too comfortable with hearing about already.
I thought this way with both the Donner Cut of Superman 2 and, recently, Godfather: Coda. Coda is still the same film as Godfather 3 and still has its flaws, but it is much more concise and the pacing of the story is a lot better because of it. Donner's Cut of Superman 2, while falls more in step of the first film, cut out all the really humanizing elements between Lois and Clark (the mind-wipe kiss at the end, despite its contrived nature, works emotionally).
I'll fight to the last championing Stallone; he is a genuinely great actor. I don't think he's overlooked exactly---his performances in Rocky and First Blood are incredible, outside of the two being great films--- but because he was hungry so long and became so successful immediately, him being athletic and physical boxed him into being an "action" guy. Him doing action filled the seats and he tried to get away from that by doing Cop Land but that didn't fill seats, despite him showing that he is still a "real" actor. He's only doubled-down on that since and that's the great tragedy about Stallone for me. He's not like Schwarzenegger, Willis, or Van Damme because he can genuinely act and has a very keen sense for narrative, but he is cut short by his being a "star."
Reading this was a bummer because we've never needed to hear what Rocky says or thinks in a fight because we know it by just his physicality! We know by the "story" of the fight and each of their movements. This seems like a last minute addition, one I'm not too comfortable with hearing about already.
I thought this way with both the Donner Cut of Superman 2 and, recently, Godfather: Coda. Coda is still the same film as Godfather 3 and still has its flaws, but it is much more concise and the pacing of the story is a lot better because of it. Donner's Cut of Superman 2, while falls more in step of the first film, cut out all the really humanizing elements between Lois and Clark (the mind-wipe kiss at the end, despite its contrived nature, works emotionally).
I'll fight to the last championing Stallone; he is a genuinely great actor. I don't think he's overlooked exactly---his performances in Rocky and First Blood are incredible, outside of the two being great films--- but because he was hungry so long and became so successful immediately, him being athletic and physical boxed him into being an "action" guy. Him doing action filled the seats and he tried to get away from that by doing Cop Land but that didn't fill seats, despite him showing that he is still a "real" actor. He's only doubled-down on that since and that's the great tragedy about Stallone for me. He's not like Schwarzenegger, Willis, or Van Damme because he can genuinely act and has a very keen sense for narrative, but he is cut short by his being a "star."
You're a type for so long because that's what people want/expect from you, do you want to keep your dignity or do you want to please people (and be rich doing it) even if it costs you that?
mattycsi
Master Member
Just saw this tonight. A great cut, I think I prefer it to the original. Don't miss the robot at all.
Big one for me was Rocky's bit about Drago having to be prepared to die himself in the rimg and not thinking he is prepared to do that, and thennthe addition of Drago's dialogue "to the end" at the beginning of the final round. Shows Drago was prepared to go there and makes the victory all the harder fought for by Rocky.
All in all he has removed the more cartoonish features of the original and I think, tonally, it fits better in the series.
Big one for me was Rocky's bit about Drago having to be prepared to die himself in the rimg and not thinking he is prepared to do that, and thennthe addition of Drago's dialogue "to the end" at the beginning of the final round. Shows Drago was prepared to go there and makes the victory all the harder fought for by Rocky.
All in all he has removed the more cartoonish features of the original and I think, tonally, it fits better in the series.
I watched this the night before last. I actually liked this cut better than the original. The additional footage and the dialog really changed the feel of the movie a pretty good bit. It almost added more realism and gave more personality to the main characters. Loved it! And now I am on the hunt for a vintage BOSS sweatshirt Rocky was wearing!
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