It should come as no surprise that I’m a huge fan of the Rocky series. There’s just something about this character
and his life that makes for endlessly fascinating movies. On the surface they seem like one trick
ponies, Rocky is down on his luck (either from the get go or sometime later in
the film) and he fights his way to glory both in the ring and outside of
it. It’s a close examination of a man’s
life and all of the crazy up and down shit that he constantly goes
through. The messages of determination,
drive, believing in oneself, devotion, humility and passion are beautiful and pretty
damn inspiring. But it’s been a while
and now Rocky has hung up his gloves.
Who’s next to continue the saga?
Adonis Creed (Michael B. Jordan (The Wire)) wants to take on his father’s legacy and become a professional
boxer. But he doesn’t want anyone to
know who he really is because he wants to make it on his own. He tracks down Balboa and they train, fight
and fall in love, uh I mean respect each other deeply and formally pass the
torch.
Let’s get the gripes out of the way first. I love the idea of a story taking place in
the Rocky universe that isn’t
directly about the main man himself. The
world is so lived in that there are a bunch of possibilities to explore there. But that isn’t really what Creed is. Probably the biggest problem I have with the
movie is how much of a Rocky picture
it is. Creed and Balboa are focused on
almost equally which I wasn’t expecting (it was the title that put that strange
notion in my head). Not only that but the
film also constantly throws in references, major plot elements and even a lot
of music from the previous Rockys. There are so many jabs to the ribs in what
too often feels like part nostalgia trip (in a bad way) and, to a lesser extent
in my opinion, part appeasement to the audience to help get them on board. Writer/Director
Ryan Coogler must be a confidently huge Rocky
fan to go all in on this project after the enormous success of his first film Fruitvale Station. So it feels more like Coogler just gushing
his love for all things Rocky here and
I think his fandom hurt the final product.
Essentially what I’m saying is the filmmakers hit so many of the same
beats as the other Rockys, especially
the first, and shoehorned in so many references that it doesn’t feel as fresh
as it should. Guys, you create your own
legacy by being your own movie. Do your
own unique boxing story and push the Rocky
stuff way into the background.
The other couple of corny things I didn’t care for aren’t
that important so I won’t even get into it.
But I do wanna say that the score irritated me. The tracks that sampled the old Rocky themes
and tunes shouldn’t have been in there because [see paragraph above]. And then the original pieces, besides the ones
that Creed’s girlfriend makes, felt out of place. They somehow don’t blend with the visuals, I’m
not sure what it is. A few of the
girlfriend’s songs were actually a little cool, a little.
Now on to the good stuff.
Michael B. Jordan is fantastic. His
appearance alone is great because he is totally fuckin’ cut man. And he’s a damn good actor too. He comes off as very natural and comfortable
with the character and material. I buy
him as a lover and a fighter. Really
good job overall.
Stallone is Stallone.
He knows this goddamn character better than anyone and he plays it
perfectly. He was born for this role and it’s interesting to see him revive it
again and again as he gets older. Sly
brings a little more wisdom and always a ton of heart each time he does Rocky. It’s like seeing an old friend that’s only
gotten more remarkable and shows more depth with each visit.
Tessa Thompson (Selma)
plays Creed’s girlfriend, Bianca, and she’s real good too. She seems to have that natural thing going as
well like Jordan. In fact the romance
between the two was one of the better aspects of the film. Even though at first it feels completely forced
to throw in a love story the romance that Creed and Bianca have is actually not
that cringe inducing. They come off as
real grown-ups having a real relationship and not a movie couple that play nauseatingly
cute games with each other or have vomit inducing cheesy ass dialogue. I applaud the picture for taking a more
grounded approach with that.
Maryse Alberti (The
Wrestler) shot a nice looking movie.
The colors aren’t washed away like the trend had been for a while (we
might be over that) and the steady cam work is understated to the point where I
didn’t even think about it. A couple of
shots were really fuckin’ cool like when Creed gets knocked down for the first
time and the camera follows smacking the mat hard, and the very impressive and fucking
badass fight between Creed and his first major opponent where it’s two full rounds
in the ring with the fighters all in one long take (seemingly anyway (goddamn
computers)). Also, the editing of the training sequences is awesome. It’s heart-pumping, kinetic and rhythmic.
In the end Creed
is solid, good not great. I wish it had
more of its own identity instead of mixing in so many contrived Rocky elements. I mean this is really just a remake of the
first Rocky. You have a young hungry boxer with
practically no track record that gets trained by an old boxing sage for a shot
at the title that comes about because the original fight got canceled and the
current champ needs to fill the void, so he taps what is seemingly an easy
target only to find that the sonuvabitch can really box and gives him a run for
his money.
If you’re a Rocky
fan of course you should see it. It’s
another fine entry into the catalogue like all the rest. Well, except V. That one can eat it. But even if you’re not a Rocky fan there’s plenty of good stuff here. Moments like Rocky vising Adrienne and Paulie
in the cemetery where he brings them a memorial rose and bottle of booze
(respectively) and reads them the newspaper, or when Creed and Bianca talk
about why he’s hesitant to use his father’s (and really his own) famous
namesake are sweet and wonderful. The
relationships along with the fighting are well handled and touching. None of it’s groundbreaking but I guess that’s
ok.
Man, imagine if there were six movies all about Mickey and
the shit he went through before Rocky. We could have that with Creed if they make five sequels.
I wouldn’t be opposed.
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