Creed III review

CREED III: 

THIRD CREED FILM STRIKES A WINNING PUNCH! 

By Nico Beland

Movie Review: *** ½ out of 4

MGM

Michael B. Jordan and Jonathan Majors in Creed III

 

            Michael B. Jordan (Chronicle, Fruitvale Station, Black Panther) steps back into the ring and sits in the director’s chair for the first time in Creed III, the latest installment of the Rocky/Creed franchises. This marks the first film in the series not to feature Sylvester Stallone as Rocky Balboa, though he serves as a producer alongside the first film’s director Ryan Coogler. 

            I’ve really enjoyed the Creed films and consider them some of the best legacy sequels/spiritual successors of all time. The first film went back to basics and reinvented the Rocky franchise after the series got sillier as it went on (Though 2006’s Rocky Balboa AKA Rocky VI is a solid installment) and the second one was able to take a movie as ridiculous as Rocky IV and continue its storyline completely straight and it succeeded. 

            There’s also the dynamic between Jordan and Stallone in both films which I think is perfect. It is the classic teacher-student bond, but you do see the friendship they share and how far they’re willing to go for each other in both boxing and their personal lives. 

            It’s a genuinely touching relationship and both Jordan and Stallone’s performances as Adonis Creed and Rocky Balboa are excellent. Add in an equally likable Tessa Thompson (Marvel Cinematic Universe, Sorry to Bother You, Men in Black: International) performance as Adonis’ love interest and exciting fight sequences that are well-shot and brilliantly edited and you got yourself a series of films that honor their predecessors while also evolving the formula. 

            Which brings us to Creed III, while I still consider the first film to the be the best, this is a pretty damn good movie. Much like what Creed II did with Rocky IV, Creed III hits similar beats as Rocky V as it revolves around the titular character training a possible prodigy fighter, but soon becomes his enemy over the course of the film resulting in a glorious final showdown. 

             The film follows retired boxing champion, Adonis Creed (Jordan) enjoying the family life with his singer wife Bianca Taylor (Thompson) and daughter Amara. But when a familiar face from Adonis’ past reemerges in the form of Damian “Dame” Anderson (Jonathan Majors-Lovecraft Country, Devotion, Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania) with the desire of a title shot, Adonis dons the boxing gloves once again and faces off against his former friend turned enemy in an epic “grudge match” (See what I did there?) to settle the score. 

            The film also stars Wood Harris (Remember the Titans, Dredd, Blade Runner 2049) reprising his role as Tony “Little Duke” Evers, Florian Munteanu (Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, The Contractor, Vikings: Valhalla) reprising his role from Creed II as Viktor Drago, Phylicia Rashad (For Colored Girls, Soul, Tick…Tick…Boom!) reprising her role as Mary Anne Creed, professional boxer José Benavidez Jr. as Felix Chavez, Selenis Leyva (Orange is the New Black, Spider-Man: Homecoming, Diary of a Future President) as Laura Chavez, and former professional boxer Tony Bellow reprising his role from the first film as “Pretty” Ricky Conlan. 

            Overall, Creed III continues the franchise’s winning streak and teases an exciting directing career for Michael B. Jordan. The best way I can describe it is Bizarro-Quantumania where yes, Jonathan Majors is excellent and commands every scene that he’s in, but the big difference is there’s also a great movie surrounding that performance. 

            Jordan and Majors have incredible chemistry together and are very believable as former childhood friends turned bitter rivals. I also appreciate how the film gives a lot of time to Majors as Dame to help make him a fully fleshed-out character and not just another disposable opponent for Creed to fight. 

            Dame was a boxing prodigy at a young age but spent several years in prison due to a crime he and Creed were involved in, though the latter fled in the end and got all the fame. You really feel a lot of sympathy for him and is probably the most human out of any of Rocky or Creed’s opponents since Adonis’ father himself, Apollo Creed. 

            I also found myself very invested in the characters’ personal lives like Adonis’ relationship with his wife and family, a side-plot involving his deaf daughter who communicates through sign language and is struggling with a school bully, and Dame’s difficult life. Everyone’s storyline in this film is interesting, and I was never sitting there saying “Get to the fight already!”. 

            Speaking of which, the fight sequences are fantastic and some of the best in either series, but unlike Quantumania, I actually gave a sh*t in what the characters were fighting for. From the tension between both characters, fast editing, slow-motion utilized very cleverly to simulate punch impacts, camera work, and brilliant uses of visuals during the final fight that make it feel like Creed and Dame are going to war against each other. 

            Seriously, watch this movie on IMAX if you can and not just because select scenes were filmed with IMAXcameras, but the amped-up sound makes you feel every punch when they hit. At that point, you’re not even watching a movie and instead are thrown right in the middle of an intense boxing match between Killmonger and Kang (I couldn’t resist!). 

            Creed III is an intense, emotional, and thoroughly entertaining third chapter of the Creed franchise and the far superior third installment out in theaters right now. It succeeds where Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania and Magic Mike’s Last Dance missed the mark. 

            Now, when do we get Creed IV with a robot?