Unlike his previous opponents, Apollo Creed and Clubber Lang, there's absolutely nothing flashy or flamboyant about Drago, he's not even smug or particularly jingoistic like you'd expect from a propaganda athlete. The Soviets have molded him into more machine than man, using technology-based training and drugs to create a superhuman monster out of an already formidable soldier. He doesn't show anything resembling human emotion until the last few moments of the fight in Russia, when his underlying pride as a fighter shines through the government propaganda. Everything about him screams malevolence — from his name ("Drago" literally means "dragon" in Italian), to his unblinking, unfeeling countenance and demeanor, to the Red Filter of Doom that accompanies all of his training scenes. He's a nearly seven-foot-tall wall of unmoveable muscle. And then they put him through an ultra-high-tech training regimen and pump him with a cocktail of hormones (and whatever the hell else the Soviets have cooked up in their labs).
Whatever the Soviets had pumped Drago full of didn't show up on drug tests, or there's no way they'd ever have let him fight Apollo. The Soviets also had a history of being very good at cheating drug tests. It's still very possible that they were doping him up.
Drago's theme, one of many tracks Vince DiCola composed for the film, is a stark, oppressive synth score with stings of falling hammers and steel clashing that drives home how he's been molded into a killing machine. It's been compared to Vince's previous work on Unicron's Theme, making Ivan feel just as, if not even more menacing than a planet-sized, universe-devouring abomination of a machine.
Drago's horrific beatdown of the once-confident and seemingly unstoppable Apollo, which ultimately ends with Creed being killed in the ring by a heavy hook to the head. It's a horrifying and tragic reminder of the risk boxers take whenever they step foot in the ring. While Rocky and company are mourning the death of Apollo, this is all Drago has to say:
Before the fight even starts, Apollo tries to bump gloves with Drago as a gesture of sportsmanship. Much to his horror, Drago's arms don't move at all. It's at that point, you know Apollo's in serious trouble.
Poor Mary Anne Creed. She is near ringside for her husband's fight, and though she's had years to accept the fact that at any time, Apollo could (and sometimes did) get seriously hurt, you just know she's never become comfortable with that reality. And now she sees him step into the ring with a 7ft mountain of muscle who seems more monster than man, and displaying not the slightest hint of empathy. Then the fight begins. If you can call it a fight. Mary Anne has to watch her beloved, stalwart husband, widely held as damn near invincible in the ring outside of his sole defeat at the hands of Rocky, get utterly pummeled and virtually annihilated by this Soviet wrecking machine. And then when in the second round, Apollo absorbs scores of unanswered, unprotected haymakers to the face and head, you just know catastrophe will soon strike, so you desperately scream for someone to stop the fight. But perplexingly, it doesn't stop. Then the killing blow. Your husband falls, and you know he is dead. Worse still, your most fervent desire is to be with him in his most desperate — and as is the case, final — hour, but a swelling crowd of vulture-like media won't let you through.
Drago's entrance in the rematch. The sinister music gives Drago the air of something monstrous. Then comes the USSR's national anthem, and we're reminded just how different the two countries really are. The exhibition match in Vegas was very much a show, and was more or less treated like a party. When the Soviets stage their match, they treat it with all the fanaticism one would expect them to. For one thing, the people are dead silent, and the military element is front and center. This might be 1985, and the Soviet Union might only be five years from collapse, but they're still a ruthless totalitarian dictatorship.
The robot scene is strangely freaky. It's a dark room at the birthday party, the camera starts going nuts cutting between the spotlight, the inhuman shape and Paulie's confused expression. Your immediate thought would be that robot is here to kill Paulie, not bring him cake.
