Creed 2 (Rocky 8): A Family Movie

Rating: 7/10 (14 January 2019)

Rocky 4 was easily one of the best (the best?) of the series for it's perfect combo of drama, exciting fight scenes, maybe the best training montage (and workout music), and cold war camp, not to mention one of the best messages for peace at the time ("If I can change, and you can change, we all can cheagghhh!!!!").
(Rocky 4 spoiler ahead)
Creed 2 which builds off the drama of Rocky 4 by having Apollo Creed's son go up against the son of Ivan Drago, the cold Frankenstein's Monster-like Russian boxer who killed Apollo Creed in that movie. People expecting the same kind of film as Rocky 4 may come out feeling both unsatisfied on that same level, but also satisfied enough with a movie that is more about families than who wins a big boxing match. I found that the relationship between Drago and his son and what happened to Drago after 4 to be the most interesting thing about the movie, while at the same time I find it hard to imagine their brief but economic scenes taking up any more time than what they did.