Director
Steven Caple Jr.
(THE LAND)

Stars
Michael B. Jordan, Tessa Thompson, Sylvester Stallone, Florian Munteanu, Dolph Lungren and Phylicia Rashad

As we enter the eighth instalment in the ROCKY film series, this sequel to 2015‘s CREED is exactly the movie it intends and ought to be. For those of us who have viewed every film to date in the ROCKY collection, CREED II instantly and effortlessly recreates that same fondness for its main characters and their lives who, by now, feel like a part of our extended family.

Soon after winning the WBC World Heavyweight Championship, Adonis Creed (Michael B. Jordan) is challenged to a fight in the boxing ring that is more personal than any he has faced before. More than three decades ago, Russian boxer Ivan Drago (Dolph Lungren) killed Adonis’s father, who at the time was being trained by Adonis’s trainer, Rocky Balboa (Sylvester Stallone). Looking to settle an old grudge he has with the former champion boxer, Rocky, Ivan trains and arranges for his powerhouse son, Viktor (Florian Munteanu) to face-off against Creed.

 When it comes to sporting dramas, there are no doubts that boxing movies are the heavyweights of the genre. No matter if the film is biographical (RAGING BULL, ALI, THE HURRICANE) or fictional (The ROCKY series, MILLION DOLLAR BABY), the story that motivates the boxer to fight is often as packed as a punching bag full of raw emotion that cannot be matched. CREED II (and CREED) might not sit in the same upper echelon as some of those aforementioned films and does have an entirely foreseeable plot trajectory, yet it still remains a mightily satisfying experience from beginning to end.

Having seven films under its belt and by connecting the CREED movies to the character of Rocky, there is immediately a plentiful supply of depth in story and richness in characterisation present in CREED II that anchors it. As such, the developments made in the lives of other characters close to Creed, such as his girlfriend Bianca (Tessa Thompson) and widowed mother Mary Anne (Phylicia Rashad) are heartfelt and heighten the drama. As does every scene that Sylvester Stallone, who backed away from the opportunity to direct CREED II, contributes to the picture as Rocky. Instead, less experienced feature filmmaker Stephen Caple Jr. steps into the directing shoes previously worn by BLACK PANTHER director Ryan Coogler (who is executive producer only), and has proven himself to be more than capable. The strongly performed dramatic work of each actor is intimately captured and the few boxing sequences that are staged are very effectively filmed.

Overall, CREED II is an engaging and worthwhile addition to the ROCKY family that is equally energetic and tender exactly when it should be.

3 ½ stars 

Viewer Discretion
M (Violence)

Trailer
CREED II

Moviedoc thanks Roadshow Films for the invite to the screening of this film.

Review by Leigh for Moviedoc
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