An extremely well-acted, well-written and well-choreographed drama.

Rating: 8/10 (8 January 2017)

A suitably slow burner in terms of pace; we follow Adonis 'Creed' Johnson as he arrives in Philadelphia from Los Angeles, searching for the famous Rocky Balboa in the hope of persuading him (Rocky) to become his (Creed's) boxing trainer.
For those unfamiliar with the franchise, you need not worry. Despite there being an abundance of references to the earlier Rocky films, they are subtle enough that prior knowledge is not essential to being able to enjoy this. All anyone probably needs to know is that Rocky Balboa and Apollo Creed were legendary boxers who were rivals and became friends and Apollo was killed boxing.
It is therefore Apollo's legacy that defines his son; we first meet Adonis as an angry and violent kid who never knew his parents. Upon learning who is father was, he grows up to become a deeply conflicted man who is inspired yet tormented by his father's status. As a result, he sets out to follow in his father's footsteps, but for the purpose of ensuring he creates his own legend and escape his father's shadow.
Cue relationship-building between Adonis and Rocky, as the latter reluctantly takes on the duty of training his friend's son and getting him ready for the big fight. It is a plot that I deliberately skip over because boxing films can be extremely clichéd and this was no different; indeed, it was predictable throughout. However, this is not meant as a criticism. What I love about this particular genre of film is that the focus is on the protagonist, and therefore it's easy to gloss over the predictable elements of the story as long as the character's development is convincing. This is true of any genre of course, but it is a significantly key measure of any boxing film because, as I had also suggested, 'the boxer' is always a deeply troubled and complex character, often his own worst enemy, and if that character is to be believable then you need a well written screenplay and a good actor to portray him.
Which leads me onto the performances and onto Michael B Jordan who was just fantastic as the eponymous 'Creed'. Physically speaking, he was a sensational athlete; his speed, precision and movement during the various (and excellently choreographed) fight and training scenes were incredible, but just as impressive was his ability to portray such an anguished and conflicted character. He delivers an array of emotions, convincingly portraying Creed's anger, determination, confliction and isolation, but there is also a healthy dose of comedy in this to counter the drama, and Jordan hits the humour with excellent timing and gusto. Equally as impressive is his performance whenever he was on screen with the film's love interest, played by Tessa Thompson. Jordan drops the testosterone and anger levels and seamlessly replaces them with a clumsy innocence and charm, all of which significantly evokes the audience's empathy and fondness towards his character.
Of course, the key relationship here is the one between Creed and Rocky, and thankfully the chemistry between Jordan and Stallone was evident. Credit must go to Stallone for his performance as well. Although you could argue that he has had plenty of practice playing the 'old guy' and mentor in The Expendables franchise, laughing at himself and co-stars for not being the young action heroes anymore (perhaps the perfect preparation to hand over another franchise to a younger generation), he gives an extremely sensitive and moving performance as the ageing Balboa, clearly worn out and weary from the tolls of his youth and the losses he has suffered since. The 'old age' humour is still here but it actually compliments the whole story and serves to highlight the aforementioned themes.
Praise must also be given to the Director and one of the writers, Ryan Coogler, and his team. Their investment in each of the characters and ability to explore the various themes and ideas really deserves a lot of plaudits. There are intricate subtleties behind every character and in almost every scene; in particular I enjoyed the sense that everyone had their own battles and demons to contend with, not just Creed, and this understated concept actually went a long way to mature his hot-headed nature. I was impressed to discover that Coogler is only 29 years old, and for a man of such inexperience behind the camera, this is an incredible accomplishment. Definitely a name to look out for.
Creed is both an ode to the Rocky franchise which it treats it with great respect and positive indulgence, but also a love letter to the city of Philadelphia which is beautifully photographed but also skilfully employed as a symbolism of the Rocky legend.
There are still the flaws that plague nearly every boxing film; it is predictable and many of the characters are by the numbers. However, the predictability and weaker characters are predominantly associated with the actual depiction of the sport itself, not the protagonists or the drama they create. Thankfully, this is nearly all about the drama rather than the sport (in fact, there are only 3 boxing matches in the entire film) and that helps to overlook these flaws and otherwise enjoy an extremely well-acted, well-written and well-choreographed drama.
Thoroughly recommended to anyone who wants to see a finely polished piece of character driven cinema.
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