Rocky in Review, Part 5: The Creed Trilogy Is Wall-to-Wall Greatness
Finishing our series with three outstanding legacy sequels
On Thursdays for the foreseeable future, I’ll be publishing reviews of classic movies, pieces that have never appeared here before taken from my book 200 Reviews, available now in Paperback or on Kindle (which you should really consider buying, because it’s an awesome collection!). For our first set of films, we’re looking at the Rocky series, concluding today with the recent trilogy of ‘legacy sequels,’ the Creed films.
Creed - 2015, Dir. Ryan Coogler
Written for 200 Reviews based on notes written February 24th, 2023
If one were to plot all “legacy sequels” on a line from least to most imaginative, insightful, and intelligent use of the franchise they are reviving, Ryan Coogler’s Creed and J.J. Abrams’ Star Wars: The Force Awakens, which initially released just weeks apart from each other, are very nearly on opposite ends of that spectrum (the actual opposite point from Creed is, of course, The Rise of Skywalker). As these kinds of film go, Creed is absolutely the platonic ideal – reviving the form of a beloved classic film series, but with a voice and message that is new, vital, fresh, and entirely of the moment. It is a nostalgia play, insomuch as we have collective nostalgia for Sylvestor Stallone’s Rocky and some of the franchise’s core signifiers (“Gonna Fly Now,” the steps to the Philly museum, etc.), but its nostalgia is a setting against which a story the earlier incarnations of the franchise couldn’t tell, and that’s where the magic lies – the missing ingredient most ‘legacy sequels’ never get around to finding.
Watching the film again now, it is absolutely buck wild to me that Michael B. Jordan didn’t win an Oscar for this. He wasn’t even nominated, of course – no black actors were that year, in any of the 4 acting categories, prompting the explosion of the #OscarsSoWhite hashtag – but looking at the performances that were given the honor, none come particularly close to what he’s doing here. It’s an utterly electric movie star performance, with all the depth, fury, and passion of the great Hollywood stars of the 70s. Tessa Thompson is every bit his equal, and not only do the two have real, off-the-charts chemistry here, but Coogler builds so much space to let that relationship grow and feel real. The film is full of little moments of intimacy and vulnerability, and it’s beautiful stuff.
Stallone himself has never been better as Rocky, building on what he did with 2006’s Rocky Balboa but shot through with even more sadness and wisdom. Still, there aren’t many clearer examples of Oscars racism than the original Rocky winning Best Picture in 1976 and Creed, in 2015, only getting one nomination – for Stallone. Ryan Coogler sort of got his due for Black Panther a few years later, but this was just a huge miss on the Academy’s part, their inability to recognize truly great pieces of big pop filmmaking outdone only by their inability to recognize black artists. And while I'm glad Ludwig Göransson got his overdue Oscar love for Black Panther, he should have taken the gold for Creed. It’s an incredible score – as bold as the film itself in reworking the past into something new and bold and vital.
This is such a visually dynamic movie, a great piece of visual storytelling, from the big one-take shots to little choices Coogler is actively making in every scene. It says a lot about what a soul-sucking factory Marvel has become that two films later, Coogler’s name is on the anonymous, colorless sludge of Wakanda Forever.
The moment that cements this as something truly great to me comes near the end, when Creed finally admits to Rocky why he’s fighting so hard – to prove he’s “not a mistake” – and Rocky comes back telling this kid how much he loves him, and sending him back into the ring with the energy and faith he needs to succeed. It’s just flat-out one of my favorite movie moments ever. I remember being in the theater opening night, and feeling all the air go out of the room as Jordan delivered his line. You could hear a pin drop. Pure electricity.
Creed II - 2018, Dir. Steven Caple Jr.
Written for 200 Reviews based on notes written February 24th, 2023
Creed II is a film I’ve felt since its release has been fairly underrated. There is a lot on this movie's mind, the filmmaking is great, and the performances are extraordinary. It’s not a better film than Creed, but it’s a better sequel to Creed than Rocky II was to Rocky, more interesting in how it plays with the formula and pushes the story ahead.
Knowing Rocky would be absent from the third Creed film makes this sequel’s character arcs even more resonant, I think. The movie sets up early on that Adonis and Rocky are a little bit codependent, leaning on each other to avoid the messy, difficult parts of their separate lives. Rocky isn’t talking to his son, estranged in the years since Adrian died, and Donny isn’t entirely committing to his new life with Bianca. By the end of the movie, both of them get over that hump, and the trial this film documents with the father-and-son Drago pair is the demon they each have to exorcise together before they can move on. Bringing back Ivan Drago and mirroring the conflict of Rocky IV, with another legacy father/son pair mirroring the Rocky/Adonis pairing, is a kind of obvious creative choice, of course, but it's obvious because it’s good drama. This is a generational trauma Rocky and Adonis share – Drago killed Rocky’s friend and robbed Donny of a father before he was even born – and it feels like something these movies had to address; that they’re able to also show how Drago’s loss 30 years ago has created its own generational trauma shared between him and his son is icing on the cake. The moment at the end where Ivan throws in the towel for his son, finally overcoming his own hang ups to hold on to the one thing in his life that is real and matters, is one of the movie’s best touches, and Dolph Lundgren is shockingly great throughout, as soulful and weary in his own way as Stallone is.
Creed II also underscores how great Jordan and Stallone are together; their chemistry is so special. They push each other, with Jordan in particular bringing out shades of Stallone we’ve never seen before. It’s why I can’t complain this one kept Rocky in the picture. There’s still meat on the bones of this dramatic duet, and Creed II makes a meal out of it.
The last words Rocky says to Creed in this one are “It’s your time.” And then there’s this lovely shot of Rocky sitting back and watching as Adonis is crowded in the ring, which really feels like a passing of the torch. This is followed by a beautiful ending, with Adonis talking to Apollo’s grave while Rocky meets his grandson – both confronting and overcoming the hang-ups of their individual lives, and moving forward independently. It’s perfect. It really feels like we finished this phase of their stories, and it seems only natural that the next film would move on with a clean slate.
Creed III - 2023, Dir. Michael B. Jordan
Originally written March 4th, 2023
It is perhaps the least surprising thing in the world that Michael B. Jordan would be capable of seamlessly making the transition to directing, given that he’s been one of America’s brightest acting talents since he was a literal child, on shows like The Wire and Friday Night Lights. And indeed, Creed III is a smart, soulful, muscular piece of filmmaking, shot through with a similar level of energy and invention Ryan Coogler brought to the first Creed, and with a degree of personal, emotional storytelling that also harkens back to 2015’s instant classic.
Oh, and it is absolutely anime as fuck, as Jordan – a lifelong, vocal anime fan – has repeatedly promised in the press.
This is most evident in the fight scenes, which are very possibly the best in the history of the Rockyuniverse. They’re visceral and close-up and thrillingly choreographed, as the other Creed films have been, but Jordan pushes things further with extreme slow-mo inserts, shots of a fighter’s eyes examining their opponent’s weakness, and most effectively, an entire interlude in the climactic fight done in a liminal space, the reality of the surrounding world melting away to represent the reality of the fighter’s emotions. That’s basically anime fighting 101 – complete with shots of Donny and Damian seeing each other as the children they were in their formative encounter – and there’s an energy to all of it that absolutely identifies Jordan as part of the generation that grew up watching shows like Dragon Ball and Naruto.
It extends to the story, too, where Jonathan Majors’ Damian is easily the most interesting and fully fleshed-out opponent the Rocky series has had since Apollo Creed himself. This a good ol’ fashioned rivalry story, with two friends-turned-enemies who have to get into the ring to work it all out. Jordan has compared it to Naruto and Sasuke, and he’s not wrong. It’s absolutely that kind of energy. But like the first Creed film, it’s also a story that’s fundamentally about the experience of black men in America, in this case the force of the carceral state and how it touches even those who don’t get thrown behind bars.
Jordan is, unsurprisingly, a great director of actors – himself included – and he, Majors, and Tessa Thompson are all outstanding here. Jordan often gets in close on faces and lets the camera just sit with the actor, letting performers express non-verbally; with the hyper-clear resolution of the film’s extremely sharp digital photography, it’s all very immediate and arresting. Majors really benefits from this – he’s got one of the great movie faces, a face that can tell you a whole story – but Jordan gives everyone similar space to work. Wood Harris and Phylicia Rashad are also better than they’ve gotten the chance to be in the past Creed films, as Donny’s trainer and mother respectively, and Mila Davis-Kent is immediately winning as Donny and Bianca’s adorable daughter Amara.
This kind of film is extremely ‘my shit’ in a dozen different ways – I am also a lifelong fan of Rocky, and of anime, and of boxing movies in general – but no matter what, this is undeniably impressive work. It feels like Jordan built the final scene to act as a send-off in case Creed III is the end of this series, and it would be a fitting conclusion if this is where things stop. But I would be first in line for more if there’s another story to tell, from Jordan or Coogler or anyone else who finds a way in to this world from a fresh, personal angle. And I look forward to whatever Jordan does next, behind or in front of the camera. Like Adonis, he’s an all-time great.
NEXT WEEK: We begin a new series …
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