'Time takes everybody out; time's undefeated.'

Rating: 8/10 (24 August 2016)

For a film about boxing CREED manages to stay toward the top of the list. The story seems simple at first - 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 – but in addition to playing on the old Stallone ROCKY movies it introduces some solid ideas about genetic inheritance, goals, family, and fulfillment. Directed and written (with Aaron Covington and Sylvester Stallone) by Ryan Coogler, the film manages to capture the language and atmosphere of the boxing set and while keeping the film grounded in reality and honest emotions.
Adonis Johnson (Michael B. Johnson) lost his mother when he was young and would get into constant trouble and end up in foster care or juvenile detention. One day a woman (Phylicia Rashad) goes to see him and tells him that her late husband is his father - boxing great, Apollo Creed. She would take him in and educate him but he feels the need to be a boxer like his father. So he moves to Philadelphia and approaches Rocky Balboa (Sylvester Stallone) and asks Rocky to train him. Rocky tries to talk him out of it but it's something he needs to do. Eventually Rocky offers to train him and when he beats a great boxer and his connection to Apollo is revealed, he is offered a chance to fight a world champion and all he needs to do is take the name Creed. The resolution of the film is very tender and to share those facts would be spoilers.
The cast is uniformly fine – both Johnson and Stallone offer first-rate performances, as do Tessa Thompson, Phylicia Rashad, Ritchie Coaster, among others. This is a film that is more than just about boxing and that is what makes is worth seeing.