As generic as they come, but incredibly crowd-pleasing and, ultimately, enjoyable.

Rating: 7/10 (2 December 2018)

'Creed II (2018)' ought to be more thematically rich than its predecessor, thanks to its weighty central conceit, but it ends up being slightly less so thanks to a number of small but noticeable missteps, such as large chunks of time and some key character decisions being glossed over. These things do end up reducing the effect - or, maybe, potential effect - of the piece somewhat, even if they don't prevent it from being an overall entertaining and character-driven experience. Plus, the motivations and development are usually always there, if you're willing to read between the lines and, maybe, assume a little. For while it's essentially as generic a 'boxing' story as they come (franchise elements aside) and, therefore, quite predictable, it's just incredibly crowd-pleasing and, ultimately, enjoyable. The Rocky character does seem slightly under-served (both in himself and in his relationship to the lead), with Stallone's performance never reaching the heights of his last attempt and the writing sometimes seeming somewhat flat, and the construction is sometimes not quite as good as in its predecessor, with some strange edits, camera moves and an overuse of 'slow motion' in the fight scenes. The flick is also somewhat less realistic than the last and does take things slightly 'backwards', perhaps, in terms of the series' progression, though not to a massively detrimental effect (Rocky V (1990)' this is not). That's not to say, however, that the piece isn't put together more than competently - with the fights in particular feeling crunchy and character-focused - and it isn't to say that Rocky isn't a decent character, since he gets quite a large arc - as do pretty much all the core players, including the antagonistic ones - which, while sometimes underdeveloped, culminates in a fairly moving final scene. On the whole, the picture is an entertaining and engaging one that maintains the focus on character so vital in making movies of this ilk work. 7/10