Creed (2015)

*** out of ****

Every time Sylvestor Stallone's career seems to be over, he resurrects Rocky Balboa and the Philly battler yanks him back from the brink. But being completely honest, and despite my love for them, the movies are by-and-large not all that good. When “Rocky” came out in 1976, the reviews were universally glowing, not only for the movie but for Stallone's performance. Roger Ebert compared him to Marlon Brando and said (in a sentence he probably later regretted), “"Rocky" isn't about a story, it's about a hero. And it's inhabited with supreme confidence by a star.”  The original was surely every bit as good as the critics thought it was at the time.

But the success of the next four movies hinged only on the Rocky character's sheer likeability. Stallone made Rocky a caricature of the original character – sad eyes and long speeches, and losing everything about what made him great in the first place. But you loved him and rooted for him anyway.  Then the sixth film ("Rocky Balboa" 2006) found that old character again, and I would have been completely okay with it being left there – it would have been an appropriate swan song for one of Hollywood's most enduring characters.

But the Hollywood wanted more of him.....and now that I've seen it, I'm glad.

“Creed” brings the original Rocky completely back to life. With a screenplay NOT written by Stallone (for the first time in the franchise), new blood is pumped back into the character, and Rocky is once again the haunted, self-doubting and somewhat timid guy he was back in 1976. “Creed” is easily one of the best performances of Stallone's career.... and he's not even the star of the movie....

Adonis Johnson (Michael B. Jordan) is the illegitimate son of Rocky's old friend and ring adversary, Apollo Creed. He is plucked from a group home around the age of 12 by Apollo's widow (Phylicia Rashad), who raises him quietly, away from the public eye. He is educated and successful, but he burns with the desire to be a prizefighter. But when his father's old gym won't have anything to do with training him, he heads to Philadelphia to seek Apollo's old friend Rocky Balboa who continues to be a small-time restauranteur.

The first half of the film is primarily about Adonis, as we see him trying to make a life for himself in Philadelphia, training alone, living day-to-day, and finding a girlfriend (Tessa Thompson). This part of the film is so good it's ridiculous... we watch and root for Adonis to achieve what he dreams of. Rocky initially wants nothing to do with the fight game anymore, but eventually starts to come around and take part in his training.

That first half of the film is unlike anything else in the Rocky franchise, and it has it's own clear identity. The second half of the movie becomes like a standard Rocky film, with training and fights and characters overcoming adversity, but it is all still done extremely well. Rather than standing completely alone in the franchise (as many are claiming it does) it blends itself into the fabric of “Rocky” in a good way and truly becomes part of the Rocky legend.

One dichotomy – the fight sequences. When Adonis fights his first real contender, I believe that 2 round fight is the single best movie fight ever laid to celluloid. Shot as one long sequence, winding around the fighters as the action goes on, it is truly astounding and extremely realistic. Unlike most Rocky fights, where the beatings are so bad someone surely would have been killed, this is very much like a real fight and I can't say enough about how good it is. It's worth the price of admission on its own.

But I can't say the same about the ultimate fight in the movie, where Adonis fights “Pretty” Ricky Conlon (Tony Bellew), which is more like the standard “Rocky” fight.  Both guys would have been dead or permanently brain damaged at the end of this bruising battle; totally unrealisitic, though the production values are just as good..

Now for one small spoiler.....   Paulie is dead – we see his marker in the graveyard (d. 2012) when Rocky goes to visit Adrian's grave. Micky in “Rocky III”, Apollo in “Rocky IV”, Adrian in “Rocky Balboa”, now Paulie in “Creed”.... All the original characters are dead. And in this film I missed Paulie, whose love-you-hate-you brotherly relationship with Rocky was one of the highlights of “Rocky Balboa”. But I guess it made for a character development item for Rocky himself – he is now alone in the world. That's probably why he is able to find room in his life for Adonis in the first place.

Overall I preferred “Rocky Balboa” (2006) to “Creed”, but not by very much. This is a really terrific film and a very worthy addition to the Rocky legacy. If you liked ANY of the others, you'll love this one.