Only in America......

Rating: 6/10 (4 May 2014)

After getting permanent brain damage, Rocky Balboa is finally forced to retire from boxing.
It doesn't stop him from coaching a boxer named Tommy Gunn, but when Tommy decides that Rocky isn't moving him up quickly, he soon leaves Rocky and begins his new training from Duke, a Don King style promoter.
Tommy wins the title he wants, but still does not gain the respect he seeks, so he challenges Rocky to a fight, live on TV, but things don't turn out as expected, and it turns into a street brawl.
One that could finish the Italian Stallion for good.
It's really not as bad as you would led to believe, Stallone is as good as ever, and even though it's not following the music video routine, and tries to hark back to the originals routes, but it just doesn't have the heart that the other film have.
Rocky losing everything and going back to his roots is a sound idea, and in some respects, it reflects Stallones career at the time, and his star power was slightly fading at the time of this films release.
The regular cast are as good as always. Morrison is okay as Gunn, but soon becomes a whining caricature come the end, and he really deserves the beating he gets.
But the film is ruined by Gants over the top portrayal of The Duke. Whenever he is on screen, it's like being in the meat locker in the first movie, there is so much ham on show.
So all in all its a good story, but handled in a wrong way, and for a Rocky movie, the soundtrack sucks.
But it's still touching in parts.