The global pandemic was pretty much bad news for everybody involved, but if there was one good thing that came out of it, it was learning that Sylvester Stallone had decided to keep himself busy by creating a director's cut of Rocky IV. The new version of one of the most popular films in the Rocky franchise will be here very soon, but now Stallone has revealed that's not the only thing we're getting that's new. Alongside the new cut of the movie will be a documentary about the making of the new cut of the movie.
Sylvester Stallone revealed on Instagram that the documentary Keep Punching: The Present Meets the Past, will be part of the release of the new cut of Rocky IV, which is apparently officially titled Rocky vs. Drago - The Ultimate Director's Cut. What appears to be the opening scene of the documentary was released by Stallone on Instagram to announce its existence.
While behind-the-scenes documentaries are far from uncommon this one promises to be something unique, if only as a time capsule of the period of time in which it was made. The new director's cut of Rocky IV was made during a global pandemic, and as this brief clip does state, the decision to make the new cut in the first place was in large part since it gave Sylvester Stallone something to do during a period of time of isolation and a limited film sets.
Many people took up a hobby while in quarantine, but Sylvester Stallone re-edited one his most popular movies. While the first Rocky is the one that won all the awards, the fourth movie is the one that became iconic in popular culture. It's the one that a generation of fans grew up with, the film being found on basic cable basically every weekend for a decade or so. So many people know it so well that the idea of a director's cut itself becomes quite curious on its own. This isn't exactly a movie that a lot of people felt needed anything and there was no indication previously that Stallone was unhappy with it. There's a reason that this is the film that gets its own sequel in one of the Creed movies.
And yet, in this brief clip that we see here, it seems that Sylvester Stallone maybe doesn't love the original version of the movie as much now as he once did. He says that he sees things wrong with it now that he just didn't notice before. This is the version of the movie that comes with the age and experience of its creator. It makes one wonder if we're going to get the "Star Wars Special Edition" version of Rocky IV. That's not inherently a bad thing, though. And there's no indication that the original cut is going to disappear and be replaced.
Rocky Vs. Drago doesn't have a release date yet, but with Sylvester Stallone announcing that the work on the edit is done, it should be arriving on Blu-ray shortly. Then we'll finally get to see just what an older and wiser Stallone sees that needed fixing in such a popular and well-loved film.
