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Creed III – Film Review

Cast: Michael B. Jordan, Tessa Thompson, Jonathan Majors, Mila Davis-Kent, Wood Harris, Florian Munteanu, Phylicia Rashad

Director: Michael B. Jordan

Synopsis: After a successful boxing career, Adonis Creed (Jordan) faces a new challenge when a former childhood friend and boxing prodigy (Majors) resurfaces…

Review: To follow in the footsteps of a cinematic icon like Rocky Balboa is far from an easy feat. Yet, with its superb blend of nostalgia, pulsating fight scenes and an unwavering determination for its lead character to honour the legacy of Apollo Creed, as well as forging his own, this is precisely what the spin-off to the Rocky franchise accomplished when its first film fought its way into cinemas to critical acclaim. With its sequel, it continued along this path by adding some deeply personal stakes for both its lead character and his coach. It might have seemed unthinkable the third film would not feature the iconic character of Rocky in any capacity. Yet even without the involvement of Sly Stallone, it has proved it has plenty of fight left in the tank.

Adonis Creed has spent years enjoying a successful boxing career. However, he has now reached a point where he has chosen to retire as a professional fighter and transfer to the role of a coach/promoter and the owner of a gym training the next generation of fighters. On top of this, Adonis also has family responsibilities parenting his daughter Amara (Davis-Kent) with his wife Bianca (Thompson). However, when a former childhood friend Damian Anderson (Majors) comes back into Adonis’s life after spending 18 years in prison, he wants his chance to become a professional fighter and make up for the time he lost while serving his sentence. Initially offering his former friend a chance to rehabilitate and train, Adonis is forced to confront his past relationship with Damian when it becomes clear Damian’s aspirations threaten to challenge the legacy Adonis worked so hard to build.

The script by Keenan Coogler and Zach Baylin, working from a story co-written with Ryan Coogler, continues to honour the theme beating at the heart of these films: legacy. The boxing aspect unquestionably plays a part in the films, but the emphasis is first and foremost on these characters and their relationships with those closest to them and the legacies they strive to build. For Adonis, he may have enjoyed a phenomenal career as a pro boxer, but the question about legacy becomes even more prescient since Adonis has hung up his gloves. With a daughter to now take care of, given the fierceness and brutality of the sport, the film explores what kind of effect will his boxing career have on her as she grows up and handles the challenges of life. A dilemma which causes tension between Adonis and Bianca. However, there are also some extremely heart-warming moments of the trio as a family, with Bianca also getting much more screen time as she is also having to balance her career and her parental responsibilities.

Yet, despite those heartwarming moments, the crunch of the film’s conflict lies in the relationship between Adonis and Damian. Through a flashback sequence, the relationship between the young Adonis and Damian is established and how events in the past have shaped the men they have become. Fast forward to the present day, and it is fair to say the relationship is complicated. There is initially respect between the two men, but it doesn’t take long for this respect to erode as Damian’s aspirations put him and Adonis on a direct collision course, which leads to an enthralling showdown. He’s certainly the man of the moment given his status as the MCU’s next big bad, and Jonathan Majors delivers a sensational performance as Damian effortlessly combing the intense physicality of the fight scenes with the more restrained emotional moments between these two friends-turned-rivals.

Taking the directorial gloves from Coogler and Steven Caple Jr in his directorial debut, Jordan follows in the footsteps of his predecessors as he puts his own stamp on the film’s fight scenes, proving his talent both in front of and behind the camera. Is there anything this man cannot do? He has made no secret of his love of anime and those influences come through in the fight scenes with intense close-ups of the fighters’ facial expressions, and slow motion before a significant blow is about to be landed. It is an effective combination and adds to the intense physicality of the fight scenes, which particularly comes through when viewed on the big screen. The Creed franchise had a lot to live up to, but through three excellent films which rarely put a foot wrong, it has honoured the legacy of the icon of Rocky Balboa and has given its star to launch himself as one of Hollywood’s newest and most exciting young directors.

Continuing to honour its central themes of family and defining your legacy, while getting another superb performance out of man-of-the-moment Jonathan Majors, ensures this threequel earns delivers the knockout blow and earns its title as a worthy successor to one of the greatest sports film franchises of all time.

Creed – Film Review

Cast: Michael B. Jordan, Sylvester Stallone, Tessa Thompson, Phylicia Rashad, Tony Bellew

Director: Ryan Coogler

Synopsis: Adonis Creed is the son of the legendary boxer Apollo Creed, and when he realises he wants to emulate his father and become a professional boxer, he seeks out his father’s old rival, the one and only Rocky Balboa, to train him.

Review: You would think that when a film series gets to its seventh instalment, it’s possibly running out of ideas and that it may be time to put the series to bed. Yet certain franchises keep roaring on, with some making over a billion dollars at the worldwide box office. While not quite making those mega bucks the likes of Star Wars and Fast and Furious have been making, the Rocky franchise has come out fighting with a remarkable revival and has reinvigorated it when many thought it was on the ropes and down for the count for good.

The main focus of this new chapter is on that of Adonis “Donnie” Creed, played by Michael B Jordan. Despite being in a decent well paid job, he strives for something different, namely to become a legendary fighter and to emulate the great achievements of his father. With six chapters coming before it, the production team behind the film had a choice: do you go with the established formula that the previous films set out, or try to reinvent the wheel and start fresh? Thankfully, the decision was evidently made to go with the former and tread familiar ground by using most of the notes from mainly the very first film in the franchise, and it does this in glorious fashion, providing a brand new Rocky for a brand new generation.

With the abysmal critical and commercial failure that is Fant4stic unfortunately attached to his CV, Michael B Jordan really shows us what he’s all about as the titular character. He’s driven and determined, but at the same time, feels weighed down and somewhat insecure by the name that he possess and also the legacy of his father. His breakthrough role came with 2012’s Fruitvale Station (which Coogler also directed), and with this, he truly cements himself as one of the finest young actors working today. It is his movie, and he owns it, and was mighty unlucky not to land himself an Oscar nomination for Best Actor.

Stallone as Balboa, in arguably the role that also made his name in Hollywood, is equally tremendous and gives quite possibly the finest performance ever in his long and illustrious career. The sheer enthusiasm of the young Creed gives him a new breath of life after watching all those he loved slowly fritter away, and when Creed is offered a massive opportunity, it spurs Rocky on even more to see the young fighter succeed. Stallone has been getting nominations and awards aplenty, and a well-deserved Oscar nomination.

Coogler’s passion for the franchise is very apparent, and through his expert direction and the striking cinematography, the fight scenes are tremendously well handled. They’re extremely gripping to watch as you will Donny to succeed in his fight against some extremely obnoxious opponents. As the audience, you want him to succeed in his quest to become as good as his father was. A perfect example of the underdog story, using the benchmark that was laid down by the first movie, and done right, is just about every way possible. This re-imagining of the 1976 classic ensures that the franchise is once again pulling punches aplenty, and will probably have a lot more fights in it in the years to come.

Uplifting, powerful and gripping, producing arguably career-best performances from both Jordan and Stallone, Coogler has maybe given the franchise its best movie yet.