Checked out Creed II, both the sequel to Creed and Rocky IV. And, honestly, this might be my favorite film in the Rocky/Creed franchise… though this is someone who never really saw Rocky I-III until much later in life so my emotional investment in them is lower than some.
Creed II follows in the very good footsteps of the original Creed from a couple years ago. Adonis Creed continues his rise to the top of the boxing world, working with broken down old Rocky Balboa. But then a ghost from his and Rocky’s past appears. Ivan Drago – the villain of Rocky 4 who killed Apollo Creed in the ring – appears with his mountain of a son to challenge the new heavyweight champion of the world.
In many respects, this is another Rocky film. Does it have boxing matches? Of course. Is someone on the ropes and then comes back swinging. Why, yes. Does it have a training montage or three? Do you really have to ask? And all of this is good… it’s solid. The boxing scenes are well done, raw, and emotional. Stallone returns for the eighth time to play his most iconic character in that usual stumbling, bumbling way (beaten up fedora included).
Most movies in this series take time for human drama and emotions. Creed II does as well and I swear this is the best the series has ever done. I was so very invested in these characters this time. Not just Rocky and his struggle with his past decisions (not throwing in the towel to save Apollo, being distant from his son) but also Adonis and his wife, played again by the excellent Tessa Thompson. And their newborn (mild spoiler) who they are worried might have her mom’s hearing loss. The day-to-day living stuff works exceedingly well as does the real drama in the ring.
The first match between Adonis and Viktor Drago comes so early in the movie, you know something bad is going to happen. If not from the plot of Rocky IV, but just because there’s still an hour and a half of screen time left. In that I knew Adonis Creed wasn’t about to get killed in the ring didn’t really matter. It was still an intense, suspenseful, and brutal sequence. The use of some well chosen lines of dialog that hearken back to Rocky IV were really chilling.
Those lines were spoken by Dolph Lungren, returning as Ivan Drago and father to the challenger Viktor Drago. I was a little disappointed that a scene between Ivan Drago and Rocky didn’t have an emotional catharsis I was hoping for. Instead, it might have done one better. Both Dragos in this film have a surprise emotional backstory and get just enough time to actually make the audience feel for them. To the Dragos, this isn’t Creed II (aka Rocky VIII)… this is their underdog story. This is the son returning thirty years later to show his dad and his country that they can win. This was the biggest surprise in the movie.
This also leads to an end boxing match that, yes, has a lot of the notes of a typical boxing match in a movie. But it also takes a turn and does something no Rocky movie has done before and, without spoiling, both calls back to the end of Rocky IV and gives the villains an honest, emotional conclusion. It was actually a pretty daring twist to what we have come to expect from this series.
I really dug this film. I’ll have to let it stew a little bit but it might be my favorite movie of the year right now. This movie is good enough that it might have worked just as well without the boxing matches. The emotional drama between Adonis Creed, his wife, and Rocky Balboa was genuinely powerful. The addition of the Drago family just added a surprising emotional core. And the boxing matches were pretty great too. If you saw Creed or any previous Rocky movie, you should definitely see this movie. If you had not… mabe see Creed first and just go for it.
Score: 91