Creed

Composite Score: 83.46

Starring: Michael B. Jordan, Sylvester Stallone, Tessa Thompson, Phylicia Rashad, Andre Ward, Tony Bellew, Ritchie Coster, Graham McTavish, Gabe Rosado, and Wood Harris

Director: Ryan Coogler

Writers: Ryan Coogler and Aaron Covington

Genres: Sport, Drama, Romance, Action

MPAA Rating: PG-13 for violence, language, and some sensuality

Box Office: $173.58 million worldwide

Why should you Watch This Film?

                Creed is the first film in the Rocky spin-off franchise that follows the life and career of Adonis “Donny” Creed, the illegitimate son of famed boxer Apollo Creed. The film follows Adonis, played by Michael B. Jordan, as he seeks to live up to the legacy of the father that he never knew by leaving his life in corporate America to become a big-time boxer, achieving this with the help of his father’s one-time rival and friend Rocky Balboa, former heavyweight champion of the world, played once again by Sylvester Stallone. The film also features Phylicia Rashad as Mary Anne Creed, Adonis’s adoptive mother and the widow of Apollo Creed, and Tessa Thompson as Bianca, Adonis’s downstairs neighbor and love interest in the film. Stallone’s performance received the Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actor and an Oscar nomination for the same, and the film is worth seeing for that and for its return to form for a franchise that really hadn’t seen commercial and critical excellence combined since its first iteration.

Why shouldn’t you Watch This Film?

                If you are not a fan of the Rocky franchise, there’s going to be plenty in this movie that either frustrates you or goes over your head, as it does seek to pay homage to the classic films through its story, music, setting, and little Easter eggs. Fan service is by no means a bad thing, and as a fan of the Rocky films myself, I have zero issue with the service paid in Creed. Enough of the story is devoted to new characters and new developments that the references to the past could easily be references to a larger world outside of the story in a standalone film. At the same time, a lot of my personal enjoyment of this film comes from the ways that it tugs on my nostalgia for a childhood watching Rocky marathons on Spike, so I can see how not everyone will love it quite like I do.

So wait, why should you Watch This Film?

                At its heart, Creed is a feel-good sports drama with solid acting and some great action pieces. The story draws heavily on tropes within the sports world of an underdog taking on the champ, twisted in this instance by the underdog’s previously secret ties to former champions. In this way, Creed’s story subverts certain sports norms, taking the classic underdog story of Rocky and turning it instead to a story of self-realization, focusing on Adonis’s desire to make a name for himself despite having the name of his father constantly looming over him. The interplay between his hesitancy to seize the privileges of his family and his desire to establish himself becomes the focus of the actual conflict in the film, pushing Adonis back and forth until he finds the right balance in time for the final fight, coming out sporting his father’s red, white, and blue shorts, this time emblazoned with the names Creed and Johnson (the name of Adonis’s deceased mother). Is it that groundbreaking? Not necessarily, but it still hits the right notes to make a solid sports film – particularly in its fights. Coogler does a phenomenal job choreographing and filming all of the boxing matches in this film, focusing on the fighters’ physicality and the intensity of the sport, getting the audience much closer to the action than any pay per view match ever could. Coogler’s writing and direction both deserve a lot of the credit for Creed’s success.

                Not all the credit goes to Coogler though. The franchise’s founder, Sylvester Stallone, returns to play an aged Rocky Balboa in Creed in a performance that probably should have won him an Oscar if it weren’t for politics (seriously, I’m still very upset that we gave Mark Rylance an Oscar for the least noteworthy performance that he’s done in the last decade). Stallone plays Rocky as he always has, too chatty at the wrong times and shy at the right ones, but this time as a supporting character, and it comes off excellently. His emotional connection to Jordan’s Creed grows as their relationship does, and the culmination of their two stories – each deciding to commit to a fight – serves as the film’s emotional climax and really elevates it above some of its predecessors.

                In moving Stallone to a supporting role in this spin-off to his own franchise, writer/director Ryan Coogler sets this new series up for success, crafting an excellently shot boxing film with a story that’s just familiar enough to keep fans happy without feeling overdone, an excellent addition to the list of Greatest Films of All Time. It might play better with fans of the original Rocky films than with other audiences, but there’s plenty to love even outside of its nostalgic connections. This film is currently available to stream on Sling, TBS, TNT, and TruTV or to rent on most other streaming services for those of you looking to give it a watch, especially ahead of its second sequel’s release in just a few weeks.