A Worthy Spinoff

Rating: 8/10 (16 March 2018)

I shied away from this movie for--I guess--a couple of years now. I'll tell you why: because nothing bothers me more, cinematically, than famed and glorious movie that has a horrible sequel. The Rocky franchise is spectacular (with the exception of Rocky V, we'll pretend that never happened). I was so afraid of Creed being this pock mark right on the beautiful face of Rocky. But I'd heard good things. Then I saw Black Panther, which is by the same director (Ryan Coogler), and I thought, "I think I'll check out Creed."
I'm so glad I did. First of all the story was good. Apollo Creed had a son by another woman and his widow took in that kid and raised him like her own. Even though he had a good upbringing his true passion was to fight. He wanted to fight like his father and be trained by Rocky Balboa without using his father's name--which was it's own struggle. He goes through peaks and valleys in his quest to be a real boxer and it's all essential for the story to be good.
The second thing that impressed me was Sylvester Stallone playing the aged and retired Rocky Balboa. He was superb in his more subdued and sage-like role. He's no longer the young and fit fighter; he's now an old man lovingly referred to as uncle by a young prodigy that he wants to see succeed. It was such a great performance. I've never seen Sly be anything other than the macho action hero (with the exception of Oscar). To see him be this mellow enlightened character that wasn't forced or satirical was awesome. In his language and manner of speaking he was still Rocky Balboa: a Philly street guy that knew how to fight, but in his behavior and handling of Adonis Creed (Michael B. Jordan) he was like Yoda. I was mesmerized.
We must remember though that this is Creed, a sequel or spinoff from Rocky, so boxing is the key. Not just simply boxing, but boxing as a heavy underdog. We had that of course and I don't think you'd be disappointed. It can never be as good as the original but it was certainly a worthy follow up.