It's a knockout!

Rating: 8/10 (8 September 2019)

I've finally gone the distance with the Rocky franchise, watching Rocky II, Rocky III, Rocky IV, Rocky V, Rocky Balboa, Creed and Creed II almost back-to-back. The fact that I have been able to do so without throwing in the towel is testament to the brilliance of the original format, to which the sequels remained fairly faithful: gritty drama, likeable characters, a lot of pathos, and stunning fight action, with a training montage or two along the way for good measure.
Creed II doesn't break the mould, but it doesn't need to, because the formula still works, albeit with the focus now on Adonis (Michael B. Jordan), with Rocky (Sylvester Stallone) in the corner as his trainer. When Creed is pitted against Viktor Drago (Florian Munteanu), son of Ivan Drago, the man who killed his father, Rocky refuses to train him for the match, considering his opponent to be too dangerous. Inevitably, Creed is beaten to a pulp by the angry Russian, only hanging on to his title by way of a disqualification, and his pride is hurt almost as badly as his body. As Creed soul searches and returns to health, he must also contend with becoming a new father, his baby girl born with a hearing defect.
Knowing that he will never be happy until he has stepped out of his father's shadow and created his own legacy, Creed agrees to a rematch with Drago, this time with Rocky as his trainer (the Italian Stallion regretting that he wasn't there for the first fight).
Packing an emotional wallop as well as many physical ones, Creed II is a belter of a film, with plenty of heart-warming drama leading up to the inevitable showdown set in Moscow, where the titular character finally gets to prove to himself that he more than just his father's son. It's engrossing stuff from start to finish thanks to excellent performances and sharp direction from Steven Caple Jr., but it is the titanic battle between Adonis and Viktor that seals the deal: it's hard hitting, bloody, and superbly choreographed, with stunning cinematography and that awesome 'spaghetti western' score by Ludwig GÃ¶ransson. Then comes the moment that the iconic Rocky theme music kicks and Adonis belts seven shades of the proverbial out of Viktor, and the crowd goes wild! Predictable, perhaps, but still a winner.