A good addition to the Rocky Franchise and a happy welcome to the 21st century

Rating: 7/10 (3 February 2016)

Creed is the newest chapter of the Rocky franchise and it takes an interesting turn to bring Rocky into the 21st century. Sylvester Stallone once again stars as Rocky Balboa and he shows that he isn't only available to star in mindless action movies and that he does actually have acting chops. Michael B Jordan co-stars as Apollo Creed's estranged son and he gives an excellent performance to portray him as an angry, talented and hard-headed young boxer who wants to nothing more than to make a name for himself, not simply relying on his last name. The movie is not without its flaws though, I found that it merely recycled and re-used the story line of Rocky 1, which worked in a way but i was disappointed to see that it didn't try to be it's own movie but it worked none the less. I feel like some of the humor that the movie attempted to bring forth fell flat at times and I found it lazy, simply pointing out how Rocky was up to date with technology (continuously re-using the same type of jokes). The movie also had many positives including excellent dialogue between the two stars, showing excellent chemistry between the two actor that showed on screen. They truly put emphasis on Creed's training and it showed throughout the movie that he could truly be a contender in the boxing world. The movie also has many emotional twist in the movie that adds layers to the movie taking it away from a simple boxing movie to one that holds its own in the Rocky Franchise. Finally it showed that lots of time has passed between the 1980s and today and that the circle of life happens to everyone, even Rocky Balboa as you got to witness the toll that life has had on the retired boxer adding more layer of emotions and it truly pulls on your heart strings.