A New Champ For A New Generation

Rating: 8/10 (16 January 2016)

Creed is the continuation of the Rocky saga, the film series we all thought we saw the last of with Rocky Balboa. Where else could they go with the ageing slugger from Philadelphia? The answer is here.
Directed by Ryan Coogler (Fruitvale Station) and starring Michael B. Jordan as 'Hollywood' Donnie Johnson, the love child of deceased boxing champion Apollo Creed. The film deals with Legacy, as a young and angry Donnie is taken in by Apollo's widow and raised as her own son. Despite having a good career prospect ('be a thinker, not a stinker') Donnie has a drive in him to fight. Not only fight, but to make a name for himself out of the shadow of his father. With no club in L.A. willing to coach him, Donnie seeks out his father's old rival and friend, Rocky Balboa. Along the way he meets and falls in love with Bianca (Tessa Thompson) an up-and-coming musician who has her own fight to deal with also.
Coogler has been masterful with the material. Throughout watching it would have been all to easy to crowbar in as many Rocky references as possible, and he would have been forgiven for doing this. But, he doesn't. There are lots of references to the old series in the film, however this more than stands on its own. This is not a Rocky film. This is a film with Rocky in it. Stallone's performance in this is one of the best of his career, perhaps as good as his original Rocky performance. He plays Balboa with a quietness this time. Gone is the meat-punching, chicken-chasing champ of old. This is a Rocky whose quietly living his life running his restaurant. There are some powerful scenes from Stallone, ones even I was surprised how well he acted in. With the right director pulling the strings, Stallone can be great.
There's an almost perfect pace to the screenplay. Never once did it feel like it was dragging. The beats of the story are on the money, and I felt the script was tight with some excellent dialogue. You could be forgiven for being fooled into thinking this film would be cheesy, when I first heard this was being made I thought exactly the same thing, however, it's never over-nostalgic, it has a perfect balance of old and new. There's Rocky DNA in the script, but it's not a copy of Rocky.
Jordan's performance has been my favourite of the year so far. It's a crime he hasn't been nominated (along with Coogler) for an Oscar for this. He plays Donnie with passion, conviction, and heart. He's not a fighter off the streets, he's had a privileged upbringing, yet there's a fire in his performance as Donnie that's electric. He's a guy with a chip on his shoulder, but has a good heart. I did feel Tessa Thompson's character Bianca was a little underdeveloped, but she still proved an interesting foil for Donnie to bounce off of.
The verisimilitude of the boxing world in this film is perhaps the most authentic I have seen. Along with the fight choreography (gone are the days of the wild haymakers) you feel you're with Donnie preparing for the biggest fight of his career.
I loved how the film was shot. Maryse Alberti weaves this beautiful canvas of life. She takes the slums of Philadelphia and makes them vibrant and exciting. There's a realness to her lens and what she gives us, but there's a polish also. I could have spent hours just looking at the Philly skyline she made me fall in love that much with this city through her work. Another addition to the film was the score by Ludwig Göransson. Again, there's very little of the Rocky score in this, there's enough, but it's more it's own original music than reusing anything that's come before.
Overall, I thought the film was great. There's a few minor irritations I had with it that's knocked down the score I've given it. A couple of characters felt a bit flat. I would have liked to have seen more between Donnie and Maryann, but that's just personal choice. It's a film that can stand proudly next to the original Rocky, and more importantly, out of its shadow and on its own.