WHAT you make of Rocky Balboa - the sixth and final round of Sylvester Stallone's much-loved boxing franchise - rests squarely on two factors.

The first is whether you care enough about a character whose defining quality is taking a punch.

The second is whether you believe he could still do so the wrong side of middle age, with creaking limbs and a face like a shipwreck.

For most people who are prepared to spend their hard earned cash to watch the film, the answer to question one will be yes. It's question number two which is far more troubling.

We catch up with Rocky 17 years after he last punched his way onto the silver screen and, incredibly, 25 years after he announced his retirement in Rocky 3.

Reeling from the death of his wife Adrian (yes, that really is the spelling, we discover in Rocky Balboa) our hero cuts a jaded, lonely figure, who has only a restaurant and a troubled son for company.

Meanwhile, undefeated boxing champ Mason Nixon is finding things equally tough, as flattening a series of powderpuff opponents is pleasing nobody, least of all his greedy promoters.

After a TV simulation suggests that in his prime, the Italian Stallion would have pasted Nixon, the pair are eventually drawn to the ring together.

It's here that the plausibility of such a contest begins to jar.

Sure, ex-champions way past their prime have returned for a last bout and a sack full of loot, George Foreman being the most obvious example.

But it's just hard to fathom how a fight between a champion athlete in peak condition and a withered old man would ever be sanctioned, let alone competitive.

I won't be spilling any beans by revealing that Rocky v Mason is just such a contest.

At least the film broaches the issue of Rocky's age by having his trainers persuade him to land a killer blow rather than try to last the course.

But this is all forgotten once the bell rings, when suddenly Rocky is the wrecking ball of 30 years ago.

Many of the elements which made the Rocky films so successful - dramatic fight scenes, fantastic music and a loveable hero - are still there, but it's impossible not to feel that this particular stallion should have been put out to stud years ago.

Matt Colledge