Gets better with age

Rating: 8/10 (2 April 2016)

Although young Michael B. Jordan has the title role in Creed the film really belongs to Sylvester Stallone. Sly joins an exclusive club of players like Bing Crosby, Paul Newman, and Al Pacino who got two Oscar nominations for playing the same role. In the case of Sly and Newman both aged naturally into the parts of Rocky Balboa and Eddie Felson. It's hard to believe that it has been 39 years since Stallone debuted Rocky Balboa. It's also 39 years between the nominations that Stallone got for Best Actor for Rocky and Best Supporting Actor for Creed.
But between that there have been several Rocky films over the years as Sly has developed more facets to the fighting Mr. Balboa of Philadelphia than I'm sure he even thought of when he debuted Rocky. It all really comes together with Creed.
But as for the story it seems that back when Apollo Creed was killed in that fight with that Russian steroid machine Dolph Lundgren in Rocky IV he had a dalliance that resulted in a post mortem birth of an illegitimate son who grew up to be Michael B. Jordan, character name of Adonis Johnson. Apollo's widow Phyllis Rashad took him out of foster care as his natural mother had died and raised him.
Jordan has an interesting dichotomy to deal with. He's his father's son and wants to make it in the fight game, but on his own as Adonis Johnson. He seeks his father's old friend and rival Rocky Balboa as a mentor and Rocky trains him for a title shot at the light heavyweight championship.
Rocky Balboa is not the most articulate movie hero ever developed, but he sure imparts a lot of wisdom to Jordan. Those scenes with Jordan are what got Sly Stallone that second Oscar nomination. Also Rocky has some personal crises of his own to deal with. These guys are of incalculable help to each other.
I really loved this film and how Stallone developed Rocky to this point. Like fine wine, Rocky gets better with age.