Beautifully shot, well acted, but a flawed script.

Rating: 7/10 (26 November 2015)

Creed was exciting from start to finish, and to quote a line from the film, "you belong here!" Creed does indeed belong in the Rocky saga. It was a passionate film, directed by a young passionate film-maker named Ryan Coogler, who happens to be much more talented with his directing ability than his writing, but I'll get to the script's flaws later.
First and foremost, the fight scenes in this film are amazing and some of the best you'll ever see. The final showdown in the end was brilliantly edited and cut, and there was some noticeable influences from The Raging Bull too. There was also a fight in the middle of the film that was absolutely brilliant. This particular fight was shot entirely on a single take without any cuts. And it wasn't just a one round fight either. I don't think I've ever seen that done in a boxing movie and this single take method was very effective at creating tension.
Action aside, the the urban cinematography was as good as John Avildon's work on Rocky and Rocky 5, and many scenes were shot on some of the very same streets from those films. Unlike Rocky Balboa, and many other sequels, this film had a somber tone throughout. And it didn't have that comic book, campy, superhero vibe to it like so many of the sequels had. There were some instances in the end that were very exaggerated and illogical but for the most part, the film maintained a very serious tone. Homages to Rocky's patented training sequences were cool to watch too, and the soundtrack will surely please Rocky fans, as well as hip- hop fans too. However, I would not say that this film is as good as the original Rocky, its not even close. Creed is a boxing movie, and Rocky was a movie about humanity. Creed had bits and pieces of lectures here and there, about overcoming one's demons, but it was an action movie at its core.
I will guarantee that every one will be pleased by the lead performances. Stallone was superb as a lonely and somewhat depressed man who was beginning to give up on life. He was tired; tired of the bad stuff on the news, tired of being lonely, and tired of having nothing left to fight for. As for Michael B. Jordan, I thought he had excellent chemistry with Stallone, both really made the most of what was a rather formulaic script at times. It wasn't really the best script in a Rocky movie and its clear that the plan is to make more sequels because many of the story's sub-plots never developed or had closure. It's unfortunate too because one subplot was very emotional.
Final score is a 7. I'd give it a higher score if I wasn't comparing it to the other Rocky films but it was definitely much better than the last Rocky film!