12A, 130 mins

Deep-rooted nostalgia for Rocky fails to deliver a knockout blow in the eighth instalment of the long-running series, which punched well above its weight class in 1977 by winning three Academy Awards including best picture and best director.

Inside the ring, the film is on sure footing and there are familiar bursts of adrenaline for us as well as the characters as they dig deep to overcome dizzying blows and achieve glorious destinies.

Away from the fisticuffs, Juel Taylor and Sylvester Stallone’s wistful script raises its gloves to earlier films, most explicitly Rocky IV, in which Soviet brawler Ivan Drago (Dolph Lundgren) delivered a fatal blow to Apollo Creed (Carl Weathers) and then faced Rocky Balboa (Stallone).

More than 30 years after that epic showdown and in search of redemption, Ivan trains his only son Viktor (real-life German boxer Florian Munteanu), moulding him into a fearsome contender for the heavyweight championship belt in the possession of Rocky’s protege, Adonis Creed (Michael B Jordan).

“That kid was raised in hate,” Rocky warns Adonis, who arrogantly believes he can overcome Drago Jnr without the backing of his mentor and corner man.

Syrupy romantic interludes between Adonis and fiancee Bianca (Tessa Thompson) struggle to up the emotional stakes as the film slugs its way into an unnecessary third hour.

DS