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| Michael B. Jordan and Sylvester Stallone in "Creed" Photo Credit: Imdb.com |
After four sequels released between 1979 and 1990, the sixth film in the series, 2006’s “Rocky Balboa,” seemed to signify the end of Rocky’s story. However, there has been new-found invigoration for the series with Ryan Coogler’s “Creed.” It was hard to believe that a seventh “Rocky” installment would ever be good, but with powerhouse performances, an emotional story, and masterful fight choreography, Coogler’s film displays considerable greatness that puts it nearly in the same league as the first “Rocky.”
In 1998, Adonis Johnson (the son of deceased boxing champion Apollo Creed and an extramarital lover), is living in a Los Angeles youth facility, where he is soon brought to live with his father’s wife, Mary Anne (Phylicia Rashad). Seventeen years later, while working at a securities firm, Adonis (Michael B. Jordan) partakes in boxing on the side. He soon quits his job to pursue a career in the ring. When he’s refused a spot to train at an LA boxing academy, he decides to move to Philadelphia and seek out Rocky Balboa to be his trainer. While hesitant at first, Rocky decides to train Adonis and prepare him for an upcoming fight with British heavyweight champion Ricky Conlan (Tony Bellew).
Michael B. Jordan brings a performance that’s as emotional as Stallone’s in the first “Rocky,” one that deserves to be in the hall of great boxing-film performances with Stallone’s, Robert De Niro’s in “Raging Bull,” and Hilary Swank’s in “Million Dollar Baby.” As a young man trying to find success as a boxer, Adonis exhibits the strength of character it takes to make it in the ring, and it’s something that Jordan brings to the screen in abundance. He displays the tenderness, determination, grit, and athletic heart of his role, all of it mixing to create a character who does justice in carrying the continuation of the series’ story.
To see Sylvester Stallone go from a boxer to a trainer is to see how far his character has come since we saw him throw his first punch in the original. Because several of Stallone’s more recent films have just shown him in his action-hero persona, it was rewarding to see him in a role that actually required him to reach the level of acting he showed he was capable of in the original “Rocky.” It’s a performance that reminds us why we were drawn to this character in the first place, showing us the kindheartedness and resilience that has defined Rocky throughout the series.
The cinematography by Maryse Alberti captures the brutality of the ring with unflinching focus and incorporates many long takes into the film. Before the fight between Creed and Conlan, we have an uninterrupted shot of Creed and Rocky walking through the stadium’s hallways on their way to the ring. During this scene, you feel the electricity of the long walk, and you feel the sense of readiness Creed experiences as he makes his way to fight in front of thousands of spectators. The climactic boxing match itself is something to behold in its visual style, and it puts the audience in Creed’s place as he participates in the vicious fight.
However, one of the most memorable parts of the film is a boxing sequence earlier in the movie that’s shot in one long take. As you’re watching it, you can’t help but marvel at how the cast and crew were able to pull off such a scene, which exhibits some of the best camerawork of the year. Because the scene doesn’t get broken up into any edits, you lose yourself in the sequence as the camera stays on the two fighters and captures their every move.
The screenplay by Coogler and Aaron Covington finds a respectable path in which to continue the Rocky-Creed story, never feeling like it’s going through the motions of just being another “Rocky” movie, or boxing movie in general. Although the story follows some of the same beats as the original “Rocky,” that doesn’t make it any less compelling. The material that the narrative provides shows this series isn’t just doing whatever it can to keep the story going, but truly has something new to offer.
What’s wonderful about the screenplay is how, even though the primary focus is Adonis training to go up against Ricky Conlan, the story is about so much more. It deals with Adonis wanting to prove he was meant to be a boxer; while also having Rocky realize he still has more to offer the world of boxing, despite not having been in the ring for quite some time. It’s about an experienced boxer trying to impart knowledge and wisdom on his pupil so the latter may achieve the success his trainer did all those years ago, and it’s a powerful bond to see displayed in the film.
Before “Creed,” the only other feature film Coogler directed was 2013’s superb indie drama, “Fruitvale Station,” in which Michael B. Jordan also starred. With Coogler’s latest film, he shows he can present as much artistry in a mainstream film as he can in a smaller film, and he proves himself to be a young filmmaker who’s career will continue to flourish in the years to come. Coogler shows a confidence that every up-and-coming film director should display and uses it to add energy and emotion to this decades-old series.
With its strong performances and uplifting story, “Creed” is one of the most surprising achievements in 2015 cinema. This film provides the same sense of inspiration you feel when watching the first “Rocky,” and it’s worthy of being a continuation of the series that began with that 1976 classic. If you want a movie this year that will have you cheering all the way through, you can’t do any better than “Creed.”
Final grade: A
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