Directed by: Steven Caple Jr.
Release date: November 21st, 2018
Rating: 10/10
Creed II, the sequel to 2015’s Creed, is a spectacular follow up to its predecessor. Creed II builds on the themes and relationships that are established in the first film and focuses on the aspects of those relationships that worked.
This time around, Adonis Creed is the heavyweight champion of the world, the same title held by both Rocky and his father. He is then challenged by the son of Ivan Drago, the man who killed his father in the ring 30 years ago. Throughout the film, Adonis has to face not only Drago in the ring, but the relationships with Bianca, Rocky, his mother, and his late father; and finally find the reason for why he fights.
Everything about this movie improves from the first, which is exactly what sequels are supposed to do. The fights in this film are some of the best in the series. Not only from a choreography standpoint, but also in the way that they are shot and edited to make the punches feel real. Some of the hits that landed while I was watching made me feel bad for whoever it was that got hit, whether it was Creed or his opponent.
Again the filmmakers created a perfect balance between the fights and the drama. There are a total of three fights in this movie, but on top of the training sequences it feels like there is just enough action to compliment the drama this film brings.
Creed and Drago are some of the biggest people I’ve ever seen in the Rocky franchise. Creed is quite large and muscular but Drago is even bigger and has a commanding presence on screen; even with the very few lines he is given.
If there’s one thing I don’t love about this movie it’s that the plot is almost exactly the same as Rocky III and IV. The things that happen in Creed’s personal life are things we haven’t seen before but in terms of the boxing, the plot is the same. Creed fights Drago unprepared without his head right and loses; just like in Rocky III when he loses to Clubber Lang. Then, after some time Creed leaves his family so that he can train harder than he ever has, just like in Rocky IV when Rocky leaves for Russia to train. Finally, the final fight takes place in Russia and, after a long and hard fight, Creed wins and the Russian people start cheering for him instead of the Russian fighter, exactly like the end of Rocky IV. Now I’m not saying that I hated the plot, it worked back in the 80s and it works now, all I’m saying is that the connection is very very obvious and maybe changing up the beats of the film would differentiate it from the Rocky franchise. While this is still part of that franchise, it’s also clearly its own thing and to make it somewhat different from those films would make it stand out in its own more so than it already does.
At the core of this film, it’s about the relationships between those you love, specifically father and child. Adonis struggles with the nonexistent relationship between him and his late father while trying to be the best father he can to his newborn daughter. He doesn’t want to repeat his father’s mistakes but finds himself wanting to go down that path anyway. Rocky, finding a father-like role in Adonis’ life, starts to think about his own son and how their relationship isn’t what he’d like it to be. Ivan and Victor Drago both struggle with acceptance. Victor wants his father to be proud of him and accept him as a son, while Ivan wants his honor back and to be accepted by his ex-wife and the country that abandoned him.
Creed II is a fantastic sequel to Creed that stands on its own while also building on the previous films; both in the Creed series and the Rocky franchise. The fighting and the drama are both taken to the next level while remaining a grounded film. I can’t wait to see what they do with Creed III.