Not bad, but not great. Some great stuff, but overall, some empty parts

Rating: 6/10 (10 June 2019)

Michael B Jordan did a great job acting in this. I thought Stallone did as well, and overall, the supporting cast was fine. Beginning made it hard to get into, as the opening scenes seemed hard to understand and either not well written, not well directed, or not well acted (when creed was a child meeting his stepmom).
It is missing a kind of zeitgeist identity, a presence of authentic passion in some of the filmmaking choices. For example, the juxtaposition between the wealth of Creed's family mansion and the working class environment of philly never felt rich. When Creed and Bianca meet at a restaurant, there is no identity of the restaurant, it's just a normal restaurant, for example. We dont feel that the environment of LA is one of spoiled behavior, instead, we are told Creed just doesnt want it. And so on.
Would have been a very interesting storytelling hook if, instead of Rocky telling Creed in the middle of his first fight how Apollo beat him if he had been working on a "hook" or a secret weapon to develop, a secret insight all along. After I saw it transpire in the way it did, I couldnt help thinking how amazing the story points would have shifted if, earlier in the training, Rocky said let me show you a technique. "work on this move. When the fighter does this, do this. And trust me, he will." And upon Creed resisiting it Rocky saying "you asked me who won the third fight between me and your father, this is how he won."
And then, during his first fight, the whole time, Creed is doing as he did, showing his hard work, but always looking for that secret insight into overvcoming his opponent. And then, when he finally wins, it is because Rocky has actually connected him to the string that binds him to his father.
I couldnt help thinking this. And although I would agree I shouldnt write the movie that someone else wrote, as they had their own intentions, the point being that there was something missing from this being an original and really grabbing story. We are supposed to somehow rely on the previous rocky movies too much, instead of this story doing the work for us.
I just find that movies have lost a lot of the magic they once had because the art of storytelling is being lost along the way.
Overall, not bad, but I wish for something even just a bit more. I recommend it if you want something to watch, but not for something beyond just a date night or general entertainment,