Creed II (2018)

You have to give Sylvester Stallone credit--he has a gift for remixing the same movie over and over and again and making you actually care. Maybe it's because he focuses on the one thing that matters most in storytelling: compelling characters. And Creed II is full of them.

First, there's Adonis (Michael B. Jordan), the brooding, bratty, world champion with a chip on his shoulder. There's Rocky (Sylvester Stallone), the downtrodden wise sage who only recognizes his role in things when the chips are down. There's Bianca Taylor, a talented singer suffering from hearing loss and her love for a self-destructive boxer. There's Mary Anne Creed (Phylicia Rashad), the weary widow of Apollo Creed who is consistently forced to check her man-child son, and then there are the villains. Ivan and Victor Drago (Dolph Lundgren and Florian Munteanu), the Russian outcasts seeking redemption for the failures of Ivan Drago. Everyone has a purpose in this film, and everyone has a place in moving the narrative forward: avenging the actions of Rocky IV.

This is a straight-up reboot of a Cold War classic, complete with the final match taking place in Russia. You know what to expect. The challenge from Ivan's son is the kind of storybook rematch the sports world loves. You know Creed has to take the fight to prove himself. And you know at some point, Victor Drago will get the better of him, setting us up for a training montage that never seems to get old. You see, when Rocky IV was released, it wasn't just a boxing film, it was practically a propaganda film about the superiority of American values and ideals. In Creed II, it's not about the country--it's personal. It's about discovering what matters most to you in your career and your own life. And as cliched as that may all sound, it works amazingly well in this film, thanks in part to the strength of the movies character development, phenomenal actors who keep the theatrical bits grounded and brilliant fight choreography and cinematography to settle scores.

I'll be straight with you, we shouldn't like Adonis Creed, but we do. He's a temperamental grown man baby that even knocks himself in the movie for "acting like a b---h." We shouldn't care about Victor Drago--he's a carbon copy of his android like father Ivan and barely has enough dialogue earn a film credit. But we do because we know that his father is living through him. The once powerful Ivan is an outcast in his homeland, and Victor's mother walked out on both of them because she has no respect for losers, so they're surprisingly sympathetic characters in their quest to be menacing. And we shouldn't care about Rocky's meandering ruminations about putting family over boxing when at no point in his career, did he ever do the same. Yet somehow this movie manages to make you care because the film understands that it's real power are in those small reflective moments building up to the fight. Moments like Creed's return to the local cheesesteak house and being welcomed by the fans who urge him to take the battle against Drago. Moments like Bianca and Adonis laying on the floor together like they did in the first film pondering their relationship and what Adonis's decision means for them. It's moments like Rocky pondering the broken relationship he has with his own son and trying to figure out if he dares to make amends. This is the glue that holds these films together--putting family above career and ego. And when it finally com

Fmovies: I never thought a movie with Rocky Balboa could ever be so boring. I was excited about the premise but the movie fell way flat.

The best moments of 'Rocky/Creed' movies are the ones that make you feel something. Creed II contains a few of those-perhaps not as many as you'd like but a few. Adonis "Donny" Creed (Michael B. Jordan) and Bianca (Tessa Thompson) continue to share charming, effortless chemistry, leading to a few of those moving moments. Other moments come ringside when Donny and Rocky (Sylvester Stallone) exchange motivating words as the music swells, our pulses rise, and we slide to the edges of our seats. These moments are present in Creed II, but they don't pack the same punch as they have at their best, like in the first 'Creed' or 'Rocky.' There's something missing in the buildup and execution of these moments, and I suspect that that something is the delicate touch of director Ryan Coogler and the originality of first film in the series. Being the seventh film in this franchise, Creed II faced an uphill battle in the originality department. By now, we all know the beats and how the story arch is likely to play out. But this story felt like it should have been the first and most obvious one pitched in the writer's room and one that should not have been the final choice. It's tricky to describe what I mean without mentioning spoilers, so suffice it to say that we've seen this story before, and we all could have seen it coming this time. The story is made of 99% recycled material, which is something I like in plastic and paper products but not in movies. On top of the major issues with the plot, there are a few puzzling details, like why is Rocky so poor? He was the heavyweight champion of the world for nearly a decade, Philadelphia made a huge statue of him, and he is instantly recognized by adoring fans on a regular basis, yet for some reason, no one has any interest in his restaurant. Rocky, hire a manager! You could be raking in millions each year if you had someone helping you out. Another issue, and this one seems more pressing, is the confusing struggle that Donny has to find his motivation for the fight against Viktor Drago. Drago is the top contender in the world, and Donny is the heavyweight champion of the world. Drago is talking mountains of trash. Drago's dad killed Donny's dad in the ring. Those are all great reasons for Donny to want to fight him. I don't see the struggle. Fortunately, Michael B. Jordan is one of the most charismatic and energetic performers we currently have in Hollywood. His vivacity infuses the tired story with enough life to get by, and he absolutely pulls off all the training montages, even though he spends half his time doing neck curls, for some reason. In the end, we have the fight everyone wants. It's satisfying enough despite the mixed message that it sends about not giving up but also knowing when to throw in the towel because you're dangerously injured and could literally die in the ring. We live in a world where we know the dangers of concussions in sports and the devastating long-term damage that they have on the lives of athletes. I find it hard to ignore, which makes these brutal fights a little bit tougher to watch, and it makes the victory celebrations a little less sweet because the only way to really win is to retire healthy.

Creed II fmovies. I love rocky but this movie was slow and predictable, and it made me feel old...

I really enjoyed the first film, but this one is so predictable and derivative, they've clearly run out of ideas.

The training and fight sequences (which make a Rocky movie a Rocky movie) only make up a short percentage of the running time. In between those sequences is where this really suffers - "Mr and Mrs Creed" are no Rocky and Adrian.

The fights are decent enough but it's all too predictable. Time to let this franchise die with dignity.

Creed 2 (my personal 3 key points):

*A boxing movie with 10 minutes of boxing+training and 2 hours of talking and deciding things.

*Nearly a copy paste of Rocky 4 and if you thought that that fight was unrealistic, wait for this one.

*When Rocky was fighting in his movies even against a Russian I wholeheartedly wanted him to win because he came from nothing, struggled and had spirit. Adonis acts like boxing is his hobby, I just cant feel for him.

I cant say more without spoiling... But very weak overall