Creed (2015) Review
We are just over a week away from Creed III hitting theaters. And that also means that we are almost done with my Rocky/Creed review series. So today I’m going to be reviewing Creed. The continuation of the Rocky franchise this time starring Michael B. Jordan. How is it? Is the original Creed better than the original Rocky? Or is this a weak point in the franchise? Those are the questions we are answering today, let’s get started!
The Good:
With this movie you have to talk about the cast and the characters. Everybody here is giving top notch performance, this is probably one of the best acted films of the franchise. We get a new lead character with Adonis Creed played by Michael B. Jordan who is a great character. He’s similar to Rocky in a lot of ways, but he’s also very different. The arc that Adonis is on in this movie is very different from Rocky’s arc in the original movie. And I just thought that as both the boxer and the person Michael B. Jordan nailed the role. Then of course you have to talk about the return of Sylvester Stallone as Rocky Balboa and this is Stallone’s best work as the character. He did receive an Oscar nomination for this role and I thought it was well deserved. He just brought his A-game to this movie and you can feel that on screen. And the dynamic between Rocky and Adonis is very interesting. Because you have Adonis who needs a father figure, we never had a father in his life. And Rocky has a pretty ROCKY relationship with his son. So the two kind of complement each other really well. And so I just appreciated their dynamic and chemistry in this movie. But as far as the character of Adonis he and Rocky are similar but Adonis also has a very different backstory. And what he’s trying to accomplish in the final fight is not what Rocky’s trying to accomplish. Where Rocky kind of just wants to win, he becomes the underdog and beats the champion. While Adonis is trying to escape his father’s legacy, he is a Creed by birth. But he doesn’t want to be known as Apollo Creed’s son, he wants to be Adonis Creed. And I just thought that arc for the character was really good and in a lot of ways. I think Adonis’ arc in this movie is better than Rocky’s arc in the original movie.
And then it’s also fun to see Tessa Thompson in the movie, while she’s doing something very different from Valkyrie in the MCU, but she’s equally as good. And you see more of the dramatic acting that she can bring to her roles.
Another thing is that while in a lot of ways the plot of this movie is very similar to Rocky. The movie as a whole feels very different from that movie. It’s very much paying homage and tribute to that movie but it’s also doing its own things. Like I said, Adonis is similar to Rocky. They both want to succeed, they find a mentor that is also a father figure, and wants to find life in the mix. And I think it’s a good thing to do something different with this movie that will also be true to the original. It’s not rehashing plot points from that movie and I liked that.
Another thing here is that this is probably the most emotional film in the franchise. Note, when I’m writing this I haven’t seen Creed II so that statement might change. But as of now, I think that Creed wins for being the most emotional film. Where they give Adonis this emotionally satisfying arc in the movie that works. What they do with Rocky also just adds this layer of emotion to everything going on. And just you care about these characters, about Adonis, about Rocky so when bad things happen to them you feel it. And you feel it in a way that you didn’t get the same vibe out of from Rocky to Rocky Balboa.
I think part of where that comes from is Ryan Coogler’s direction. He’s made a name for himself by being the top tier director of the last 10 years. Where was able to craft a Marvel, a superhero blockbuster and get a Best Picture nomination out of it. And with Wakanda Forever he was able to craft a movie that honored the death of the franchise’s main character and just interweave that through-out the run time of that movie. And Coogler absolutely brought all of his talents as a filmmaker to this movie. He interweaves this movie with emotion and it all works. Along those same lines, he shoots the fighting scenes in a way that makes them intense. He knows what the most intense hits and punches will be, and positions the camera in the right spot to make you feel the punch. And Ryan Coogler is slowly becoming one of my favorite directors of all time.
Finally, I also thought this movie had a nice sense of humor about it. So much so that this is probably the funniest film in the franchise, granted that the bar is not set very high. And it’s not like a Marvel movie with a bunch of jokes every minute or so. But every 5-10 minutes there is a joke that makes you laugh, it does put a grin on your face when they are told. It’s not overshadowing the movie, but it’s just in there at the right moments.
The Bad:
The big thing that comes to mind is that I felt that the score was too much and too loud for the movie itself. The composer was a composer who worked with Coogler on the Black Panther franchise, and the score here felt distracting to me. It feels like it would work more of a superhero movie or a big blockbuster movie, but with it being a small boxing movie it just didn’t work.
Another thing here is that these aren’t some of the more interesting villains. And that’s something that I would say is the case with most of the Rocky movies. They are kind of just there for somebody for Adonis to fight in the finale. And the villain is Tony Bellew who I believe is a boxer in real life, so he’s an opposing threat in that way. But as a character in it of themselves, he’s not one of the better ones.
Final Thoughts: Creed is a pretty great movie that honestly is kind of tied with the original Rocky. So when my ranking drops in a couple of weeks, I’m not sure which one will be on top. And just in general, I thought that this movie had great characters, emotion, story, direction, and humor. There are issues here, but they aren’t that big; they are pretty minor issues.
The Score: 9.0/10 (A-)
Comments