History YMMV / RockyIV

* Padding: The film is fairly short already at 89 minutes. If you take out the end credits, the obligatory repeating of the final scene of Rocky III as the opening scene to this movie, and a somewhat baffling midpoint montage of moments from Rocky movies including Rocky IV itself, the film actually contains closer to about 75 minutes of new footage. And ''that'' 75 minutes is further watered down by [[BigLippedAlligatorMoment BLAMs]] and montages, meaning the story itself is less than an hour.

** Apollo dies in the ring fighting against Ivan Drago. Years later, ''Film/Creed'' reveals that Apollo had an affair outside of marriage, resulting in a son. That puts a new light on his actions and motivations in this film. Was his infidelity and hunger to regain his former glory signs of a mid-life crisis? Or did he knowingly step into the ring with a devastatingly powerful and ruthless fighter many times his size and younger to boot as a way of paying for his indiscretions?

-->'''Apollo:''' You know Stallion... it's too bad we gotta get old, huh?

** An interpretation of Apollo Creed is that he's fed up with retirement and growing old gracefully, and [[DeathSeeker wants to go out fighting like a warrior]]. Some dialogue in ''Film/{{Creed}}'' strongly implies this is the case.

** Drago's loud proclamation that only fights for himself and not his country, while brave, also no doubt played a large part in him being exiled from the Soviet Union. As far as they were concerned, if Drago wouldn't fight for them, he was useless. It makes you think that if Drago had kept his mouth shut, they ''may have given him a second chance.

** Then there is Rocky's "You'd never be rid of me" promise to Adrian. Cue Rocky Balboa decade's later.

** The depiction of the new (at the time) Soviet premiere Mikhail Gorbachev. While Gorbachev wasn't exactly "nice," his public persona made him look like a peaceful wise leader. And this worked extremely well in America and elsewhere in the West (the infamous "Gorbymania"), making his depiction in this movie hilariously stand out.

* MemeticBadass: Ivan Drago. A lot of Youtube comments joke that an sniper was prepared to kill him, but either him ''or the bullet'' were too scared to go near him.

* CreatorBacklash: A minor example; Stallone (who directed) was happy with how the film came out, but has mentioned he's regretted not having Bill Conti compose the score.

* CrazyAwesome: Rocky's training montage out in the Russian wilderness. It starts with him outrunning his Russian security detail and ends with him ''climbing a mountain seemingly with '''no''' gear'', just to ''bellow Drago's name''.

* FightSceneFailure: "[[Website/CollegeHumor Just to give an idea how hard these guys were punching, sometimes the punch didn't even land but their head flew back anyways, like from the air or something.]]"

** Apollo Creed's entrance in his fight against Drago. It starts with an over the top performance that belongs more to a Broadway musical than a boxing ring, has James Brown singing, and has Apollo dressed up as Uncle Sam and dancing. Drago, who is usually TheStoic, [[OutOfCharacterMoment is utterly bewildered by this spectacle]], and probably qualifies as the OnlySaneMan for this scene. Even Rocky seems somewhat embarrassed, as when Adrian looks at Rocky at one point like, "How long is this gonna go?" Rocky's return gesture is like, "Beats me, this ain't my idea!"

* NightmareFuel: Drago's horrific beatdown of Apollo, which is also a tragic reminder of the risk boxers take whenever they step foot in the ring.

* FairForItsDay: The film is often mocked today for delivering a BrokenAesop in the end, where Rocky tries to promote peace between the US and the Soviets. This wouldn't have been so bad, had he not made that speech just after beating the crap out of their Russian champion Ivan Drago on national television. Still, misplaced as it was, movies that portrayed Russia in any sympathetic light at all in the mid-80s height of the UsefulNotes/ColdWar were pretty hard to find.
* FunnyAneurysmMoment: In the Magazine/{{MAD}} spoof, after Apollo Creed dies, Adrian mentions being nervous because Mickey died in ''III'', and now Apollo, meaning she's next if there's a ''V''. While she doesn't die in ''V'', she does die between then and ''Balboa''.
* HarsherInHindsight: As if Apollo's death wasn't bad enough, thirty years later we learn about the effect it had on his unborn son in the spin-off film ''Film/{{Creed}}''.

* SoBadItsGood: ''Rocky IV'' is often considered as this (in contrast with ''V'', which is just considered bad), what with the over-the-topness, good ol' UsefulNotes/ColdWar patriotism, as well as the antagonist's one-dimensional character and Rocky's [[{{Narm}} narmy]] speech at the end.
* StrawmanPolitical: One of the most cartoonishly negative depictions of the USSR in American media, which is saying something. The Russian characters are a near-silent, hulking muscleman with [[LackOfEmpathy little empathy]] towards his opponents, his wife who ''smiles gleefully when Apollo dies'', and their {{Jerkass}} promoter, a Communist functionary who spends the whole film baiting Apollo, Rocky and insulting America. Even Ken Begg of Jabootu's Bad Movie Dimension, an avowed conservative, [[http://jabootu.net/?p=2136 found the movie's Red baiting over the top]]:
-->''"Reducing a real life, malign totalitarian regime to the level of bad comic book villainy actually undermines a rational explication of Communism’s evil. The problem with the Soviet Union wasn’t that it was breeding a super-race of fighters to come here and snap the necks of our championship boxers."''

** Who ''is'' Ivan Drago, anyway? It's implied that he's been bred to box, has had steroids and blood-doping up the wazoo, and is supposed to support the State 24/7. He's treated like an object by his government and we're never told what he wants. When he says "I must break you", he means it - he ''must'' because he has no options. When he says, "If he dies, he dies", is he talking about Apollo or himself?

--> '''[[LackOfEmpathy If he dies, he dies.]]''

* LoveItOrHateIt: Possibly the most polarizing entry in the franchise, with seemingly equal amounts of defenders and detractors. While its fans love the emotional story of Rocky avenging Apollo, the training montages and soundtrack, and Ivan Drago, its critics bring up issues with the tone being a severe contrast to the earlier films, as well as the rather cartoonish patriotism and depiction of the Soviet Union. And there are some who admit that the film is heavily flawed, but can't help but enjoy it [[SoBadItsGood due to the sheer '80s cheese]] and [[RuleOfCool over-the-top awesomeness]] on display.

* VindicatedByHistory: Sort of. It's still considered a terrible film, but the way ''Film/{{Creed}}'' was able to use Apollo's death to launch its own story, which is now regarded as the best the series has been since the first film, gives it a more respectable place in the franchise.

* FunnyAneurysmMoment: In the Magazine/{{MAD}} spoof of ''Rocky IV'', after Apollo Creed dies, Adrian mentions being nervous because Mickey died in ''III'', and now Apollo, meaning she's next if there's a ''V''. While she doesn't die in ''V'', she does die between then and ''Balboa''.