Movie Review: Creed III

 

Michael's Movie Grade: B+

An excellent addition to the Rocky franchise. 

This may be the first film of the Rocky franchise not to feature Rocky, but it still very much holds its own with most of the earlier entries in this franchise. Much of the reason for this is that over the course of the last two Creed movies, Adonis Creed has become a character that we have built just as much of a relationship with as we have with the characters from the original Rocky movies. Though Rocky was in those previous films, they did show that this character could definitely hold a movie all by himself. He definitely does so here. The character remains just as likable and relatable as he had been in the previous movies, even as this film delves into the darker elements of his history. In this movie he runs into an old friend, who he was very close to as a kid. As this friend comes back into his life, angry, self-doubt and guilt from the past come to the surface after a long time of him repressing these feelings. This only gets worse as the two become increasing antagonistic towards each other. This is handled very well as we become quite involved in their emotional stories. The film also tackles the tough subject of holding on to guilt and letting it define you. This is made more powerful and complicated by the fact that what Adonis did in the past was very wrong. Also while his friend from the past is the antagonist of the story, he is not the villain. Writers Keenan Coogler and Zach Baylin portray him in a very sympathetic light, even if he goes too far quite a few times. He is also very much the underdog that Rocky and Adonis were in their first films, making it even harder to truly dislike this guy. This in turn makes him probably the most interesting and complex antagonist in this franchise. This is all enhanced by the wonderful chemistry between Michael B. Jordan and Jonathan Majors as the two characters. When you see the two together, through these performances, you can see both how much they care about each other and the pure rage they feel towards each other at the same time. Often times this can be felt without the characters even needing to say a word. This movie is actually the first feature film directed by Michael B. Jordan and he handles much of this movie like an old pro. That this is his first time directing a movie is especially impressive in the climatic fight scene. He uses great nightmarish visuals that come with a dream like logic to get us fully into the mindsets of these characters. The effect is wonderful and this is a scene that will stay in my mind for a long time.

Unfortunately this movie does have its problems. One of these is that it should have either have had a longer runtime or less subplots. The subplots involving Adonis' daughter, mom and his relationship with his wife all are not given enough time to be as effective as they should be. Even parts of the main plot can feel a little rushed at times. In fact how quickly somethings move along can really cut into the believability of the story. Also like all of the Rocky movies that follow the first one, this movie is quite predictable and it is easy to tell how it is going to end pretty quickly. 

This is simply an excellent film and a welcome addition to the Rocky franchise, even if it doesn't have Rocky himself.