Excellent follow-up to the "Rocky" franchise off-shoot

Rating: 9/10 (5 December 2018)

CREED II (2018) ***1/2 Michael B. Jordan, Sylvester Stallone, Tess Thompson, Phylicia Rashad, Dolph Lundgren, Florian Munteanu, Russell Hornsby, Wood Harris, Milo Ventimiglia, Brigitte Nielsen. Excellent follow-up to the "Rocky" franchise off-shoot with Jordan's Adonis Creed facing his biggest challenge - fighting the son of the man who killed his father in the ring in a championship bout. While the film echoes Rocky II and Rocky IV the overall result is an entity all itself thanks largely to a smart and lean script by Stallone (who co-wrote with Juel Taylor) and an even keeled direction by Steven Caple, Jr. Jordan and Thompson have chemistry to spare and Stallone elicits some deep low-key acting moments of poignancy and tenderness.