Rocky: Every Final Fight Ranked Worst To Best
8. Rocky Vs. Ivan Drago (Rocky IV)
Listen, I understand and respect the appeal: Watching two titans like Stallone and Dolph Lundgren, both in their absolute prime, beat the hell out of each other on the big screen is very exciting. The fight is entertaining. It's fun.
But it's also complete nonsense, a victim of cartoonish implausibility and character inconsistency. Fun as it is, it's simply impossible to take Rocky's victory seriously after Ivan Drago has been portrayed so intensely as an unstoppable killing machine with no remorse and no flaws.
Watching Drago go from the man who easily killed Apollo Creed (Carl Weathers) just 80 minutes earlier to getting knocked out after twelve (12!) rounds by Rocky Balboa is too much to accept. It's fun, I can't stress that enough, but the gritty air of realism the franchise once prided itself on is too far gone.