Rocky Balboa (12A)

The Italian Stallion? More like flogging a dead horse, as Sylvester Stallone gets back in the ring for a sixth Rocky film. As in his first, Oscar-winning bout 30 years ago, Rocky is reduced to mooching around the streets of south Philadelphia. His wife's death has hit him hard, and the only way he can regain his sense of purpose is, yes, to lace on the boxing gloves yet again. Faithful fans may be sucker-punched by the hokey nostalgia, but, for the rest of us, this is a fluffed opportunity, littered with under-used characters and unresolved subplots. It's well known that Stallone wrote the screenplay of the first Rocky in three days. He must have knocked off Rocky Balboa in half the time.