In this third installment of the Rocky franchise spin-off, boxer Adonis Creed (played by Michael B. Jordan, also the director of this) finds a monkey wrench thrown into his life when childhood friend Damian Anderson (played by Jonathan Majors), comes back into his life after spending eighteen years in prison. He once had a promising future as a boxer, and he's hungry to achieve the dream he lost. REAL HUNGRY.
Creed has become that rare trilogy where all the films are good. This is a solid, engrossing entry fueled by the conflict between Adonis and Damian and the specter of what went down years ago hanging over the former like a ghost.
This is the second Creed film that's managed to revive the glory days of the memorable Rocky antagonist. The writers remembered what worked with Creed II's Drago and continued rolling with it: make the guy intimidating but also completely tragic and sympathetic. Majors does a great job and convinces you of the character's buried resentment and the fact that this is clearly a man that's been outside of society for a while. He's also a good physical successor to Drago. Majors is super swole in this and dwarfs Jordan, and the character is differentiated from Drago, who was a relentless animal, by being a "anything goes/push the rules as far you as you can" fighter.
Jordan gives another excellent performance. I think he and the writers realized they couldn't make another installment where the guy's being cocky, and you see growth with the character, now as a family man and running a gym.
Jordan delivers a surprisingly confident work, considering this is the first time he's directing. If you missed the fight in the first Creed film where it's one uncut shot, you'll be pleased to see a couple interesting visual ideas in this.
There is one thing about this movie that may turn off a lot of people. As with the first two movies, a lot of this is about the story and dialogue. The constant talking scenes and deliberate pacing might bore some.
Highly recommended. This is just a well written and acted film that keeps what you like about the Creed movies while naturally evolving them.
