Last week, Ivan Drago became an American citizen. At 66 years old, Dolph Lundgren is still preserved enough to remind us of his most famous role, which he reprized in 2018’s Creed II. But the image of a menacing former communist with a small American flag in front of the Department of Homeland Security emblem would have carried more symbolic weight had he painted it 40 years ago.
Today, the terrifying Drago primarily evokes nostalgic memories of simpler times, when it was easy to tell who your enemy was.
He also fondly recalls the heyday of Hollywood blockbuster filmmaking. Compared to his 1976 original, a downbeat love affair with a sentimental, crowd-pleasing finale, “Rocky IV” is bloated and steroidal, pumped up and smoothed out by MTV finesse. It has become.
And we loved it.Announced in 1985, two years after President Ronald Reagan “Evil Empire” Speech And four years before the fall of the Berlin Wall, “Rocky IV” was the third highest-grossing film of that year and remains the highest-grossing film of the series.
It shamelessly presents the Cold War as a scientifically designed cartoonish showdown between the Soviet Union. Vermensch Drago and the big-hearted commoner Rocky Balboa. Whether the film’s success foreshadows the inevitable triumph of American-style freedom or stems from the dangerous chauvinism of the era depends on who you ask.
Either extreme requires you to ignore certain subtleties in star director Sylvester Stallone’s storytelling. Sure, Rocky needs to avenge Apollo Creed’s death, but it’s Creed who unnecessarily chose the fight with Drago in the first place. It’s Creed who enters the arena with a flashy self-aggrandizement of empty patriotism, and it’s Creed who refuses to stop fighting no matter how outnumbered he proves to be.
There is no suggestion in America’s current immigration policy that citizenship has any value.
“If he dies, he dies,” Drago shrugged just before Creed did just that. While he’s certainly one of the movie’s great villain lines, it’s also a statement of a simple fact. He wasn’t without warning. “Whatever he hits, he destroys,” says his handler. As we say today, FAFO.
It’s hard to imagine Rocky IV being as successful as it was without Lundgren. I think the credit for that goes to Stallone. His original idea for the character was “Giant Neanderthal” But meeting the charismatic 6-foot-5 Fulbright scholar-turned-model gave him an idea of a more worthy opponent. Rocky’s enemy would be “a perfect, intelligent, perfect future.”
Drago is a believable threat. His punch lands. Advised by Stallone not to hold back, the inexperienced Lundgren ended up put him in intensive care Over a week.Lundgren’s treatment of Carl Weathers infuriated the late actor he ran off the setwill stop production for a few days.
As Drago, Lundgren isn’t exactly likeable, but he’s respectful enough to make us wonder, at least a little, if we’re not stuck in the past. Perhaps, whether we like it or not, the Soviet state’s ruthless pursuit of excellence by any means necessary may be the way forward.
Of course, this question is temporary. Rocky was victorious, proving that no amount of cutting-edge performance-enhancing drugs or high-tech training equipment can match the grit and determination of Americans. In fact, Rocky impressed the crowd with his can-do spirit, and even Mikhail Gorbachev gave him a standing ovation.
It’s kitschy, but a bit painful. Whatever state we are in now, we are no longer confident, united, or optimistic. And the way Lundgren has announced recent news only highlights what we’ve lost.
“Finally done!” he said wrote on Instagram. “I have lived in this country on and off for 40 years. First as a student, then as a martial artist, then as an actor. America has given me great opportunities and a great life. I am proud to become a citizen and officially make this my home.”
The gratitude, humility, and pride displayed here are woefully outdated, as is the assumption that citizenship provides something as precious as “home.” In fact, there is nothing about America’s current immigration policy to suggest that citizenship has any influence. Totally worth it.
And if the future belongs to globalization, why should we? Today’s free-for-all south of the border good for the economy, fool. If you cannot accept this, you are clinging to an outdated vision of America out of racism and resentment. You deserve to lose.
Again, it’s not all about winning. No one watching Rocky for the first time will be disappointed when the main character loses the battle to Apollo Creed. Defeating Creed would have been a bit too unrealistic and a cheap ending that devalues Rocky’s internal battle.
Rocky fought for something much more meaningful than a title or money, and that’s what got people’s attention. And that’s what has kept people captivated for almost 50 years and nine films.
It’s hard to maintain a franchise that long. “Rocky’s” relative staying power looks even more impressive when compared to the precipitous decline of “Star Wars,” which is just a year younger.
America today is more like Star Wars. It’s an idiosyncratic, sometimes frustratingly idiosyncratic company whose parts have been stripped away by efficiency experts. A vocal minority of dissatisfied fans may push back, but they simply don’t understand progress. Either way, they’ll eventually get tired of complaining and move on. When they do, we may realize that they were the only ones holding the whole thing together.
