Standard but okay

Rating: 6/10 (1 July 2018)

Adonis Johnson (Michael B. Jordan) is a young black man from Los Angeles and has aspirations to be a boxer. He moves to Philadelphia to seek help from Rocky Balboa as played by Sylvester Stallone who reprises his famous role yet again.
The introduction to Adonis as a child is rather fascinating when a mysterious maternal figure appears in his life. The identity of his connection with the woman is revealed later as is his connection with Rocky. These revelations are intriguing as are the fates the viewer gradually learns of other characters in the early "Rocky" films.
At the start of the film, there are many good reasons given to discourage Adonis from boxing. This is just the obligatory attempt to appear cautious and concerned. Then, the movie rips right into glorifying the sport.
Overall, the movie has good elements. There are energetic scenes and the acting is fine. Stallone's presence and charm add greatly to the film although the recent batch of awards does seem like over-praise.
The trouble is that the movie seems to follow the formula of the many standard boxing movies before it. The mandatory romance could be foreseen within milliseconds. (In fairness, the love interest has an interesting story of her own. The movie would have benefited with more emphasis on it.) And the training scenes, while finely edited, seem endless - mainly because we've seen them before in many other movies.
"Creed" pays a nice sentimental tribute to the original "Rocky" film while introducing younger talent. It would have benefited more from a story with more surprises.