A championship movie

Rating: 10/10 (2 December 2015)

CREED: If we're to be honest, Stallone has certain limits as an actor, but there is one character he does extremely well and that's Rocky Balboa, a character as iconic as, dare I say, Vito Corleone. In CREED, Stallone delivers a subtle, nuanced, layered, Oscar worthy performance. In fact, CREED may well get a Best Picture nom, as well as Best Screenplay and Director nom. I know I said the same thing about the other boxing movie, SOUTHPAW and it wouldn't surprise me if these two films went head to head in the Best Picture race. Unfortunately SOUTHPAW came out in the summer and CREED will be fresher in voter's minds, but I gotta give the edge to CREED mainly based on Stallone's poignant performance. Michael B. Jordan is riveting as Apollo Creed's son, Adonis, a self-taught street fighter who fought his way through foster care and is rescued by Apollo's wife who takes him in and informs him of his legacy. After several successful semi-pro fights in Mexico, Adonis heads to Philly, with all the nostalgia of familiar sights, to seek out Rocky to train him. These two strangers, who only share a common bond in Apollo, teach each other what it means to have a family and how to fight. Of course, there is the obligatory training montage but it's broken up in such a way that there is a degree of freshness to it. Like SOUTHPAW, the director puts us in the ring where we can almost feel the blows. The boxing sequences are masterfully filmed and exquisitely choreographed. In the finale fight, the whole HBO team shows up to give it authenticity. Everything about this movie seems to have been handled with love and sensitivity for it's characters. BTW, bring Kleenex. Score: 10. GO! It's a championship movie.