We all have our favorite Rocky movie. Mine has always been
Rocky IV from 1985. Written and directed
by Sylvester Stallone, it’s the one that featured the death of the very
American Apollo Creed at the hands of Russian Ivan Drago, leading to Rocky having
to go over to Moscow and face Drago behind the Iron Curtain.
I really enjoyed the first Creed, directed by Ryan Coogler,
capitalizing on his fantastic partnership with Michael B. Jordan. Jordan played
Adonis Johnson (Creed) as he headed to Philadelphia to follow in his father’s
footsteps by training with Rocky. Along the way he wooed music artist with
hearing loss Bianca.
In this second outing, Creed has won the heavyweight
championship, and is contemplating his next move as he and now-fiancee Bianca
move out to Los Angeles and learn she is pregnant. Meanwhile, Ivan Drago seems to be working
construction in the Ukraine, raising his son in anger and hate, and training
him to box. Apparently his wife left him years ago, and he seems to be taking
that out on his son, Viktor, who is a monster in the boxing ring. After gaining some notoriety, and catching the
eye of a promotor, Viktor starts calling out Creed, and the public gets all
over the match of the sons, after one of the fathers killed the other (side note - there's no way these guys are in the same weight class).
It’s no surprise that Creed heads off into the fight,
ill-prepared and against the wishes of Rocky.
He loses, badly, and then has to go back to basics to regain his
drive. Finding a new desire and push
after the birth of his daughter, he heads to Moscow to face off with Drago in a
second battle.
If you’re at all familiar with the plot of Rocky IV, nothing
that happens in this movie is a surprise, but it is still really well
crafted. Directed by Steven Caple Jr.,
Creed II is predictable, in a good way, and well-acted. There is just enough here and there to flesh
out a straightforward story, and the performances pull you in. I wanted a little bit more about what
happened to Ivan Drago after he lost in 1985, and then the Soviet Union fell
apart. However, the story is not really
about him, and enough is shown for the audience to infer that things have not
gone well for him.
- Michael B. Jordan plays Adonis Creed, now fully accepting of his role as his father’s son, and embracing his skill as a boxer. He does a great job in this movie as a young man, full of confidence, who then has to come back from having that confidence brutally ripped away.
- Tessa Thompson plays Bianca, and her hearing loss is getting worse in this movie, but her music career is starting to pick up. She and Jordan have fantastic chemistry, and their reactions once their daughter is born are wonderful. Thompson manages to give Bianca more to do than the stereotypical ‘boxer’s girlfriend’ role.
- Sylvester Stallone plays Rocky Balboa, aging, lonely, and hopeful for Adonis. He wants what is best for him, but is also struggling to reach out to his own son. His reaction to seeing Ivan Drago unexpectedly walk back into his life was underplayed, and completely believable.
- Phylicia Rashad plays Mary Anne Creed, Adonis’s mother, who is supportive of her son, and seems surprisingly supportive when he wants to step into the ring with the son of the man who killed his father.
- Dolph Lundgren returns as Ivan Drago, older and angrier. He seems to have lost everything since the last time we saw him. His wife left him when his son was very little, and he no longer has all the support and fancy equipment from the government. His struggle as he begins to realize that he has forced his son to become a weapon to serve his own vengeance is apparent, but subtle, and very well done.
- Boxer Florian Munteanu plays Viktor Drago as an absolute mountain, built by his father to box and nothing else. As he starts to gain success, he begins to get noticed by the government, and finally by the mother who left him when he was very little. Munteanu does a wonderful job getting more and more perplexed as that goes on.
- Wood Harris plays Tony Burton, the son of Apollo's trainer, who steps in to help train Creed when Rocky refuses. He has a calm supportive nature that works well in that role.
Overall, the movie is enjoyable, and definitely benefits
from being seen in a full theater. My
theater was absolutely packed, and the audience reacted as if they were at a
real boxing match, which is a testament to how well the fight scenes are
filmed.
8 out of 10, check it out with a crowd if possible. Also, I
really enjoyed the score, which during training montages found a way to work in
the iconic themes from the original – impressive.'
Bonus, what Tessa Thompson rose above -
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