Rocky Balboa

The slums of Philadelphia are the backdrop once again as Rocky ekes out a living running a modest restaurant dedicated to his late wife, Adrian.

His estranged son is struggling to accept his role as the son of the city's favourite boxer, while brother-in-law Paulie is a big ball of regret, still working in the same slaughterhouse that gave him a living thirty years before.

Meanwhile, Mason 'The Line' Dixon, the current Heavyweight champion, has lost all credibility due to bouts with a parade of wilting makeweights. His management know the best way of wringing more cash out of their investment is with a publicity stunt...

The popularity of a computer fight, staged on a US sports TV Network, sets bells ringing in Rocky's ‘punchy’ head - he's lost his wife, but he can find his gloves again.

When the cynical management team find out Balboa has applied for a boxing license, it's only a matter of time before they convince both Dixon and Balboa that an exhibition would suit all parties.

Sly's made an attempt to ground his movie in a world far closer to the original than Rocky IV, shunning montage sequences in favour of characterisation, although it's hard not to be disappointed by this downbeat world, sans rock music and flickering medleys, but it’s the hard knocks of the real world that are the crux of Sly's script.

And it's easy to forget Stallone is an Oscar winning scriptwriter after he abandoned his ideals in the lazy 80s. But here he has written a tight, subtle and occasionally - dare anyone say it - touching piece, with fleshed out characters and dialogue that sparkles.

Interestingly, he avoids turning Dixon into the bad guy, allowing a subplot to develop in regards to Rocky's role in the current champion's life.

Criticisms may lie in the way the movie plays out, reverting to type in the final third rather than utilising the gravitas it had managed to rediscover, while the occasional scene misses a beat, acting as a reminder to the film's relatively low budget.

It won't win any Oscars - although it's arguably Sly's career best performance - but Rocky Balboa is a welcome return to form. Cynics might suggest there's little point in reviving the series, but when the Italian Stallion's supporters turns out in force, they certainly won't be disappointed.

With a small budget and a hard sell, Sly couldn't ask for much more.

Rich Phippen