★★★☆☆
Three Stars
Creed tells the story of Adonis ‘Donnie’ Johnson, the illegitimate son of Apollo Creed, who fans of the Rocky series know as Rocky Balboa’s rival-cum-friend. Adonis is saved from juvenile prison by Apollo’s wife and given a life of luxury to help him avoid his father’s fate in the boxing ring. However, he feels called to the ring and tries to make a name of his own under his Mother’s surname. Donnie’s fate eventually catches up with him, as his genealogy is discovered and he earns a prize fight with Liverpudlian Ricky Conlan. His love interest Bianca finally convinces his to embrace his legacy: “Use the name. It’s yours.” Actor Michael B. Jordan certainly knows what it is like to try to make a career burdened with a famous name- as his conspicuous middle initial affirms.
The highlight of the film is undoubtedly Sylvester Stallone, who reprises his most famous role as an aging and lonely Rocky Balboa. Michael B. Jordan and his Fruitvale Station director Ryan Coogler managed to convince Stallone to reprise his role which most people thought the unrealistic 2006 reboot Rocky Balboa had put to bed. Rather than make the 70-year old fight, Coogler sensibly puts him in Donnie’s coaching corner. Balboa is a pitiable character who knows a lot about death, and the action star’s genuine pathos leaves audiences unsure whether to cry or giggle cynically. The Academy are keen to relive memories of Rocky’s ‘million-to-one’ Best Picture win in 1977 and hand Stallone Best Supporting Actor this year; but this would be a disservice to the brilliant Mark Rylance.
The fight scenes are some of the most realistic on screen. The Rocky series has come a long way since the ropes obscured the view of the fight in the original. Coogler brings the camera inside the ring and holds long shots of realistic boxing. This realism is furthered by the fact that no stunt doubles were use and Donnie’s opponent is played by boxer (and genuine Everton fan) Tony Bellew.
However, the melodrama and hype sometimes spills over into absurdity. The use of Goodison Park as an arena and omnipresent Everton FC crests is slightly jarring in a Hollywood boxing film. Also, the training montage showing Donnie supported by a quadbike gang ends up looking more like Mad Max: Fury Road than Tyson Fury.
It’s fitting that Creed was released around the same time as Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens. Both are the 7th films in series that began in the late 1970s and subsequently went wayward. Both straddle the awkward line between reboot and sequel. And both somehow managed to pull it off.
