#52-B: CREED (2015)

THRILL SCALE 1-10

8.5

HAVE I SEEN IT BEFORE?

Never

BEST SEQUENCE

Final fight with "Pretty" Ricky Conlan

BEST LINE

“Your father was special. Tell you the truth, I don’t know if you’re special. Only you’re gonna know that when the time is right.” - Rocky to Donnie

ROTTEN TOMATOES SCORE

95%

ROTTEN TOMATOES CRITICS CONSENSUS

"Creed brings the Rocky franchise off the mat for a surprisingly effective seventh round that extends the boxer's saga in interesting new directions while staying true to its classic predecessors' roots."

IMDB SYNOPSIS

"The former World Heavyweight Champion Rocky Balboa serves as a trainer and mentor to Adonis Johnson, the son of his late friend and former rival Apollo Creed."

DIRECTOR

Ryan Coogler

MAIN CAST

Michael B. Jordan, Sylvester Stallone, Tessa Thompson, Phylicia Rashad, Tony Bellew

THOUGHTS

• There's more boxing so it gets a higher Thrill Score. End of review
• Just kidding. I don't think it's fair to say that Creed is better than Rocky, as they're fairly different movies (despite a lot of obvious similarities) and Creed certainly benefits from not only building off of the foundation laid by Rocky, but also the advances in filmmaking and storytelling that we've seen in the 40 years between the two movies being released. I do think it's fair to say that I was more entertained by Creed, though. More consistent action, and I was physically pumping my fist during Donnie's climactic fight in a way that I wasn't during Rocky's climactic fight with Donnie's father (and incidentally, the character's name is Adonis, but he refers to himself as Donnie throughout the movie so that's how I'm going to refer to him as well)
• I do also think Creed benefited from this being my first time seeing it, whereas I knew exactly what to expect for Rocky. This is also still kind of funny, though, because a lot of the beats are the same, especially in the final boxing matches - the protagonist seems outmatched, then he starts landing some hard punches, and baby, you got a stew going (to quote Apollo Creed himself, Carl Weathers). And, spoiler alert for both Rocky and Creed, in a funny twist of fate, both fights even end the same way - our protagonist goes the distance and gives the champ more than he bargained for, but our protagonist still loses in split decision. And I appreciated this ending in both movies - it was still entirely satisfying to see both Rocky and Donnie prove that they had what it takes to take on the champ, even if it didn't result in a full victory. Besides, gotta save something for the sequels, right?
• This is a great starring role for Michael B. Jordan, charismatic as always, and Sylvester Stallone got his second ever acting nomination for a very poignant, touching performance as the aged Rocky. If I recall, I'm pretty sure Stallone was heavily favoured to win Best Supporting Actor that year, but it ended up going to Mark Rylance for Bridge of Spies
• Some incredibly dynamic and exciting camerawork from Ryan Coogler, especially during the fights. It almost feels like you're there in the ring with them
• Finally, as a reboot/spinoff of the Rocky franchise, Creed was also kicking off a new series all its own, really, and I liked the differences in motivation between the two movies. In Rocky, Rocky Balboa was a nobody, someone who had to prove himself and start his own legacy through grit and determination. Donnie, on the other hand, already had a built-in legacy, and sky-high expectations that he needed to live up to. I liked seeing how the two different characters dealt with the differing circumstances

Up next: Well, I don't know if this was just coincidence or somehow intentional on the AFI's part, but there's more boxing coming at you (and I didn't even mention the fact that Pulp Fiction was also boxing adjacent with Bruce Willis's character Butch). It's one of Martin Scorsese's most highly regarded movies, Raging Bull from 1980