WARNING: Stallone does not yell anybody's name in this film.

Rating: 8/10 (29 November 2015)

Creed is a spin-off of the Rocky series and follows Apollo Creed's son, Adonis as he seeks a boxing mentor. The film is directed and written by Ryan Coogler (The script was also co-written by Aaron Corvington), and stars Michael B. Jordan and Sylvester Stallone. I think in ten years, most people will remember the performances in Creed. Michael B. Jordan is a strong lead and brings a determined energy to the underdog role. This is complemented by a reluctant Sylvester Stallone, who gives one of his best performances in years and gives candid and touching moments in different scenes during the film.
The star of the film though has to be the fight scenes, which are beautifully shot by Marysee Alberti, who decided to use flowing long wide shots complemented by minimal cuts - except for the climax. Outside of the fight scenes the whole film is rich in great shots and there is one in particular towards the end of the film, which holds a lot of energy, and encapsulates everything the film wanted to show and I feel we will be talking about this scene for a while.
By the way the score by Ludwig Goransson is pretty good, especially during the fight at the climax.
Now the story, it is good, however it begins to wobble slightly during the second half of the film and by no means is it subtle, which is proved by the characters who just state what they mean, fortunately Jordan and Stallone manage to work around it. I felt the romantic sub-plot came out of nowhere. Other than those minor problems I found the film to be high entertaining, during the fights the tension and the stakes are felt and the father-son like relationship between Balboa and Creed is played out nicely however it is not too subtle.
Now the sound editing is good for the most part, however in some scenes when Stallone is shouting- it sounds as if he is sitting inside of my ear with a megaphone. Also some of the make-up is distracting- I won't say any more.
To conclude, I recommend you go and watch Creed, it is a very engaging film with some exciting moments. I know I will be buying it on blu- ray for the score and the beautiful cinematography. Creed has a place in my top five films of this year, therefore i am going to give Creed an 8/10 or a B+.