Worthy successor to the Rocky franchise is true to the original

Rating: 8/10 (29 October 2017)

A fine successor to the Rocky franchise follows the son of Rocky Balboa's original opponent, Apollo Creed. The film opens with the young Creed, the illegitimate son of his boxer father, as a juvenile delinquent, but who is adopted by Apollo's widow (remember, the big Russian in "Rocky IV" killed him). Picking up years later, Creed has a promising white collar career, but he continues to fight in underground Mexican boxing matches, as well as fighting his own demons to escape his father's shadow and find his own identity. He decides to quit his job and follow in his father's footsteps to become a boxer, fighting under the name Johnson instead of Creed and enlists the help of none other than Rocky Balboa to train him. The young Creed gets his big shot when it leaks out who his father is and when the champ, "Pretty" Ricky Conlon, is looking for a last minute opponent, just as Creed senior did for Rocky in the original film. The film follows the Rocky underdog formula, with a terrific Michael B. Jordan as the young Adonis Creed having the prove himself to the world and to himself as well. Jordan makes Creed feel like a genuine person and not one of the many cartoon characters who populated later Rocky films ("Rocky Balboa" being the exception). This film differs from prior Rocky films in that Balboa is now a supporting character, but Stallone delivers a heartfelt performance that is his best since the original film. Also, this is the first Rocky film not written by Stallone, but the story's underdog nature, the father/son relationship, and, of course, the build-up to the big fight, all fit nicely within the Rocky formula. Directed and co-written by Ryan Coogler, he brings an indie film sensibility to a major studio film to great effect. Overall, "Creed" hearkens back to the heart and soul of the original "Rocky" in what I hope continues for the sequel now in production. Interesting factoid: Stallone is now the same age as Burgess Meredith when he played Mickey in the original film.