To say that after more than 20 years as a major movie star, Sylvester Stallone has landed his best role yet in Copland would be an insult to Rocky fans. Or would it?

Stallone gained 40 lbs. to play Sheriff Freddy Heflin, an easy-going throwback to small-town policing (a man who wears the badge but has little authority) in Garrison, N.J. It’s a town across the river from New York and is made up mostly of corrupt New York City cops and their families.

The action starts when a New York City hero cop gets himself into a mess involving a wrongful shooting on the George Washington Bridge. His deceiving police friends from Garrison try to help him out, and the incident becomes a conspiracy.

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Internal Affairs Officer Mo Tilden (Robert DeNiro) is in charge of investigating the incident. But his problem is that his jurisdiction ends in New York, so Tilden looks to Heflin to help bring down the corrupt cops living in Garrison.

Heflin’s concern is that he considers the accused cops his friends, who were trying to fulfill his lifelong dream by getting him on the force in New York even though he’s deaf in one ear.

All of this builds to a visually intriguing and powerful climax that gives old Stallone fans a chance to see him in a more compelling action scene than most of his previous action movies.

This is where I forgive Stallone for Rocky II through Rocky V and all the other action garbage that has made him millions. He holds his own extremely well in scenes with DeNiro and the bitterly intense Harvey Keitel, the mastermind of all the corruption in town. Stallone’s lackadaisical portrayal earns his character a lot of audience empathy, which seemed to be writer/director James Mangold’s intent.

Michael Rapaport, Peter Berg and a very good Ray Liotta round out an incredible cast that make Copland one of the best movies so far this year.

Rating:4 out of 5