a real heavyweight knockout of a film..

Rating: 9/10 (16 January 2016)

I want to be honest and make this review clear.. i have never seen a Rocky film. Judge me if you will, but i just never got round to it. That being said i know of other work by Sylvester Stallone and from what i have seen this is actually his best performance yet.
The film follows Addonis Creed, who wants to make a name for himself instead of simply following his father, Apollo Creed's legacy. Rocky Balboa takes him under his wing and trains him under the name Johnson to be a champion in his own right, but when Rocky gets sick they both have to fight their own battles. That is what sets this film apart from other boxing films, it is more than that. A fighting film yes.. Rocky fights out of the ring this time though, which made him that much more compelling to watch. Michael B Jordan once again proves himself as the leading man. He went from being in the worst film of 2015 to giving a real knockout performance, if you'll mind the pun. We get a good insight into what both of these characters are going through and they play off of each other so perfectly.
So why do i call this Stallone's best performance? Well firstly, he went from adding some hilarious humour to the film, to bringing me to tears. You feel like he is in this for Creed. He says he is ready to embrace death, yet you see in his eyes and in this brilliant performance that he really wants to see Donnie succeed and become everything his father was and more. The cinematography also stands out really well. From Donnie's first fight you knew it was something special. I knew this was the scene that was done in one shot and it looks amazing. We follow Creed and his opponent as they are throwing punches and evading them. It makes us as an audience feel we are right there in the ring dodging blows. This carries through a few times and the last climatic fight is a spectacle to behold, especially when that iconic Rocky theme blares from the speakers. It put a huge smile on my face. There are more than a few times that i teared up at this movie too, especially at the heartwarming ending that really shows how far Rocky, as well as Donnie, have come as champions.
So does it make me want to watch the Rocky films before this? It sure does. I am going to now spend the time to watch them all and get to know these characters as well as i got to know Donnie and i am looking forward to it. I was on the edge of my seat by the end, but as i said this film has a hell of a lot more to offer than just the boxing.