A great victory can be a matter of reconciling yourself with a few defeats...

Rating: 9/10 (20 January 2019)

On the ring of its four-decade spanning narrative, the greatest opponent to the 'Rocky/Creed' franchise has always been formula. The reason why the original "Rocky" was such an endearing movie (and the series' best) is that it didn't end with the expected victory and yet Rocky Balboa became the underdogs' patron saint.
So no matter how good or entertaining the sequels were, something was missing or maybe too visible not to undermine the film's believability. It became all about rematches and revenges, the formulas divided the movies into three clear acts the starting point with "everything's doing great" then "everything's falling apart" leading to self-questioning and existential crises and finally "everything's great again" with the final game, final bell music etc.
Yet the series had found its own antidote against these schematic structures: heart. In "II", Rocky proposed to Adrian, she lapsed into coma, they had their son, in "III, Mickey died and Rocky's friendship with Apollo was sealed, there was always a way to look at another direction, but then something changed, the audiences became vaccinated against these emotional tricks. That could pass with "Rocky IV" but "Rocky V" was the one disgrace too many.
Now let's be honest, "Rocky Balboa" and "Creed" aimed higher than their predecessors but they weren't that original. In "Creed", it was the legacy of Apollo that made us care for young Adonis, Michael B. Jordan's spectacular performance did the rest and drew us into caring for his mother (Philycia Rashad) and Bianca (Tessa Thompson). But story-wise, neither of "Rocky Balboa" or "Creed" reinvented the wheel and owed their popularity to the whole series and the fact that time make characters like a good wine.
The reason of this lengthy preamble is that "Creed II", as anticipated as it was, didn't exactly start on solid ground. The 'surprise effect' was over, Adonis didn't have any major demons to fight anymore. Only the 'Rocky' situation with his son was left pending but after Stallone's nomination, it was time to remind viewers that it was about Adonis. And when I learned that the film would feature the son of Ivan Drago, the shadow of revenges and rematches began to haunt this movie.
Formulas again. I expected history to repeat itself, the two games, one to lose, one to win. I expect the whole doubting about himself and fighting his demons, I even expected the emotional stuff, positive like the birth of the baby and negative with a little misunderstanding with Rocky. I could see this coming a mile way. Then why did I leave the theater so overwhelmed by emotion? Why did the film hit me so hard that it even lured me into taking some decisions with a few demons of mine? Why did I cry?
Emotions can't lie, I love the 'Rocky' franchise but not to the point of blinding myself when it comes to flaws, this film isn't without a few missed shots but seriously, it's as good as the first "Creed", if not better at times. Now, I have a dilemma. Should I go deeper in my analysis at the risk of making this a non spoiler-free review and preach a choir? Or should I just kept this vague enough to encourage the skeptics.
You know what? Let's just spoil the whole thing because fans don't need anyone's blessing (kind of like any climactic fight in the series). I refuse to believe someone would need a review's endorsement so let's just that I loved it because it surprised me. And when the greatest opponent of a series is formula, "surprise" can only be a victory. And I don't mean the overused "going the distance", I mean the truly unexpected ones with an emotional impact, narratively, these are knock-out victories.
The first surprise is that the film might have the best opponent after Apollo Creed. Clubber Lang was tough and raw but he too one-dimensional even in his colorfulness to be taken seriously, Ivan Drago was a killing machine who only needed a humbling experience, nothing substantial could come from him in a movie whose biggest shock was the loss of Apollo. Tommy Gunn was just a joke, and even in the last two films the opponents were only foils.
But "Creed II" had the master trump: Drago's son. It was risky because of the whole "son against son" thing (sounds like a damn monster movie, as would Apollo said, 'rest his soul) but it works because as the movie progresses, we start to understand Drago's motives and they're interesting, then we draw parallels with Adonis' own motives and they're fascinating.
Indeed, the film starts as your usual sequel and in a way you didn't see coming, becomes a film that makes you think not about victory, but about failing, about the poisoning effect of loss and abandonment in one's self-confidence, and even Rocky's backstory with his son joins the emotional band wagon and we don't have two but three plots that tie up together in a satisfying way, one that made me think of myself and made me realize that sometimes, the biggest victory is also to reconcile yourself with defeat.
And for that, the film offers not just one but two powerful surprising outcomes, one where Adonis "wins" on a technicality while lying on the ring after a real massacre, and another where Viktor Drago loses on a thrown towel, one of the best moments in the franchise, and in itself a victory that redeems the two Russians. Going the distance works in mysterious ways, it's one thing to keep moving forward, but knowing when to throw it can be the sum of all wisdoms.
In a way that's what Rocky did when he went to see his son and grandson at the end, a sweet touch that made me realize it was time for him to leave gracefully and I'm sure that "Creed" franchise is 'gonna fly' with its own wings.