Creed turned out better than I think everyone on the outside of production thought it would. It’s got the three staples of a great film present and accounted for.
A great script. Brilliant concept and writing to further the best Rocky films. Adonis Johnson is the illegitimate son of Apollo Creed, one-time foe and eternal friend of Rocky. Apollo cheated on his wife with Adonis’ mother and after his death, at the hands of Drago in Rocky IV, Apollo’s wife finds Adonis in foster care and adopts him. Adonis grows up with guidance but only knows his father through his legacy. Now in his mid-twenties, we see that boxing is in his blood. He explores the sport by teaching himself,  but  he still feels aimless and incomplete. Looking to fill the void he feels, he moves cross-country to find Rocky, to learn from the only other person who truly knew his father. Creed is the story of Rocky coming full circle in his boxing career, to help the boy of his friend come out of the shadows and be his own man. The setup works and the execution does too. Each beat of Adonis’ journey is an important one and brings back the feelings that made everyone fall in love with Rocky almost 40 years ago.
The actors that make it work. Michael B. Jordan is a hell of an actor. He’s bopped around TV for some time (he’s in The Wire!) and I think he first got the biggest movie attention from his role in Chronicle. The following year he blew people away in Fruitvale Station. You give this guy the material and he’ll do it justice. He’s fantastic as Adonis, he’s a joy to watch transform on screen and completely believable as a boxer. Sylvester Stallone gets to remind everyone again of how great an actor he is. Nearly 70 years old, Rocky stepping into the ring doesn’t make sense. Seeing him come out of retirement (he owns a restaurant), persuaded by Adonis to actually enter a boxing gym and then train him (another smart thing, Rocky sets him up with a team, he doesn’t do it all himself) and share his life is really touching. They go through a lot together and the difference in their age goes beyond the amount of wrinkles on a face; it’s experience, overcoming, and understanding. This story is so much more satisfying than rebooting Rocky with a new guy in the role. There’s only one Rock and that’s Sly Stallone.
The direction. A good looking movie in every regard, director Ryan Coogler knows how to set up a scene and get out of the way when necessary. Then, when the action comes, he brings a deft hand to some phenomenal boxing scenes. It’s thrilling, real (even if it is exaggerated, the final fight shows endurance that isn’t possible) and never confusing. He even pulls off a “spin around the actors” moment that usually makes me mad. It almost always looks bad, forced and pointless, but Coogler does it just right.
I’m all for a direct sequel if the whole team stays together to make it. Coogler’s got a big gig with Marvel next, so if the writers come together in the next year, he’d probably be replaced.