More of a "Rocky IV" sequel and a "Creed" sequel

Rating: 6/10 (26 April 2020)

Solid sequel is entertaining, but felt less like a sequel to "Creed" and more like a sequel to "Rocky IV," with Rocky continuing to mentor young Adonis Creed, an excellent Michael B. Jordan, only this time Adonis has to fight the son Rocky's dirty commie nemesis, Ivan Drago, who killed Adonis' father at a Vegas James Brown concert (okay, I'm going glib). With the writer/director of the first Creed film, Ryan Coogler, moving on to bigger and better things, writing and directing duties were turned over to others and this sequel loses some of the human element that elevated "Creed" above other Rocky sequels. "Creed II" is takes more time to develop characters than most Rocky sequels and avoids the jingoism and silliness of "Rocky IV" (there's no equivalent of Paulie and Rocky's robot maid or Rocky's Regan-era anti-commie speech at the end). The subtext of fathers and sons looms large over "Creed II" as Rocky and Dolph Lundgren's Ivan Drago both seek redemption through their sons (a surrogate son in the case of Rocky) that builds to a climactic battle in the ring. But to put the film in perspective, it's really only a few scenes, such as one between Rocky and Drago at his rrestaurant, that have the kind of poignancy that made the first Creed film such a standout. Michael B. Jordan continues to shine as the film's lead, but for me, this film felt like it was more about Rocky and Drago having one last battle. I was also tickled to see Brigitte Nielsen (Stallone's real-life ex-wife) reprise her role from "Rocky IV" as Drago's wife (now ex-wife) in a brief cameo that greatly helped to define the current state of Drago's character today. Overall, "Creed II" is nowhere as good as the original film, but does offer more humanity than most Rocky sequels and remains an entertaining fight film that's well worth checking out. FUN FACT: Stallone is now two years older than Burgess Meredith when he trained Rocky in the original 1976 film.