I'll admit the trailer for the new Rocky installment certainly makes the movie look almost as near a joke as most of the series' sequels. Let's face it: The Rocky series jumped the shark after Adrian went into a coma in Rocky II. Since then, the movies have taken genre clichés and made them Rocky clichés—montage after montage, characters that were so rich in the first film turning into pawns for whatever ridiculous situations turned up, and rivals each more bloated than the last (Rocky vs. Communism!). So it's an incredibly pleasant surprise that Rocky Balboa returns to the series' character-driven origins and is subsequently the best film in the series since the 1976 original. That doesn't mean the film is without its flaws, but is it ever refreshing to see a sports film that cares about its characters, sport, and even touching upon the human experience. It's been 16 years since Rocky V, and while the 60-year-old writer/director/star Sylvester Stallone might seem a bit old to literally get into the ring again, it hardly matters when a screen hero is finally given his due.

Rocky (Stallone) is done with his career and his life. His wife Adrian (flashbacks of Talia Shire) has died of cancer, and every year on the anniversary of her death, he and his brother-in-law Paulie (Burt Young) make their way to her grave and hit the old spots of their romantic past in Philadelphia. This year, Rocky tries to convince his son Robert (Milo Ventimiglia) to visit his mother's grave and meet him for dinner at Rocky's restaurant. He doesn't show, and on a happenstance trip to a bar he used to frequent, Rocky runs into Marie (Geraldine Hughes), who insulted the champ when she was a little girl and is now a bartender in the dump. The two have a connection, and Rocky starts to hang out with Marie's teenage son Steps (James Francis Kelly III). Meanwhile, the current heavyweight champion Mason "The Line" Dixon (Antonio Tarver) has become a hated figure in the world of boxing for his easy wins. When a computer simulation pairing Rocky in his prime against Dixon is televised, the artificial Rocky emerges victorious, giving Rocky reason to think about fighting again. Dixon's management sees it as an opportunity to get some better publicity for their boy by setting up an exhibition match with the former champ.

As important as the fight is, Stallone's script isn't all buildup to the match. The film is as much about loss and grieving as it is about boxing. The aged Rocky and Paulie bemoan getting old. Rocky ponders that time goes by too fast; Paulie doesn't see it going fast enough.