Give Stallone All the Awards

Rating: 9/10 (4 December 2015)

Creed, like each of its six predecessors, is ostensibly a boxing film, and quite a good one. There are two featured fights: the first is intense and natural, punctuated by an artfully effective long take; the second is pure edge-of-your-seat action that, as clichéd as it sounds, really pumps you up. Thankfully, however, relative-newcomer Coogler recognizes what makes these movies great: not the boxing or even the plot, but the people. Creed is by no means super-original, but its big-hearted script and punchy performances soar it towards the top of the Balboa heap. Part continuation, part spin-off of the Italian Stallion saga, we meet Adonis, the son of Rocky's one-time opponent / friend Apollo Creed, as he makes waves in the boxing community under the training of Balboa. Jordan, playing Creed, continues his assent to stardom, showing his hard-work and commitment in every frame. However, he still pales next to the Rocky character, one of the most lovable in all Hollywood cinema. Stallone wears Balboa like a wonderfully tailored old suit, playing the ever-deteriorating champ who, once the icon of running up flights of stairs, now struggles to get up a slight hill. Natural, funny, and ever-affable, Stallone puts himself deep in Oscar conversation, beautifully underlining his character's optimistic exterior with soulful heartbreak from years of loss. This unrelenting passing of time is highlighted in an early line of the film: "Time beat him. Time beats everybody; it's undefeated." But while this pessimistic realism may be the message, it is by no means the attitude; Creed is still very much a "Rocky" film at its core: unabashedly earnest and crowd-pleasing.