Synopsis:

Rocky IV might be my favorite Rocky, if not my favorite, it is close. When I heard that Stallone was re-editing it, I was super hyped, but the result was kind of a letdown. So, then I thought, “One of these fantastic fan-editors are going take this and combine the two, and make the perfect version. That'll be awesome, I can't wait!” Well, I’m still waiting. There have been a few edits, but none of them have been quite what I'm looking for. There have been a couple that I have read through the change lists, and they sound great, then I download them and am disappointed by the quality (video quality, editing quality, etc). There have been a couple others where I know the editors and know they put out quality edits, but I read through the change lists, and they are just not what I would want in an edit. I recently came across a version that I thought was going to be the perfect edit for me, just to be disappointed by the audio, it was awful.

Intentions:

“If you're so picky, why don’t you just do it yourself?” Coming across that most recent version reignited my want of an edit like this. So, that’s what I have done, I’ve done it myself. Here it is, my version of Rocky IV, simply titled “Rocky IV: The Extended Cut”.

Change List:

-Opens with the MGM lion logo from RvD. -Redid the opening text, “UNITED ARTISTS PRESENTS” and such so that it is nice and crisp. -The opening scene is from the OG, one of the edits I referred to in my opening paragraph used the RvD opening, but I prefer it this way. -Removed all of the opening credits. They were during the Rocky vs Apollo fight; I like it better without them. -Added new title, just Rocky IV, but done differently than both the OG and RvD. -Kept the robot! Many edits remove the robot. It’s pure 80’s cheese and I love it. -Added the Rocky and Apollo talk (about Rocky not wanting to fight Drago and Apollo wanting to) after the Drago performance demonstration and before the dinner with Adrian (from RvD). -Added Rocky and Adrian talking in the kitchen (from RvD) right after that dinner. -The fight between Apollo and Drago is almost entirely from RvD. -Added the funeral from RvD after the fight. -Added Rocky’s meeting with the boxing commission (from RvD) after the funeral. -Added Rocky and Adrian’s goodbye (from RvD) after the goodbye with the kid. -After the Rocky and Drago fight, I removed the Russian dignitaries applauding Rocky winning and replaced it with them being upset and walking away in disgust (from RvD). -Used the extended ending from RvD of Rocky walking around in the ring, and out of the ring, after the fight. But kept the OG credits and “Hearts on Fire” as the end credit music. I much prefer this over the RvD version with “Eye of the Tiger”. Don’t get me wrong, I love Eye of the Tiger, but for this movie, Hearts on Fire fits better.

Other Sources:

The Blu-Ray for the original Rocky IV was used as the base, and the digital download of Rocky vs Drago was used for the added/alternate scenes. Rocky vs Drago scenes were cropped to 1920x1040 to align with the OG and massive color correction had to be done. Some grain was also added to the RvD scenes to look more like the OG.