A dispassionate production of 2 stories in one film

Rating: 6/10 (7 March 2019)

Creed 2 is a story split in half. One half is a story about love, sacrifice and family life in the modern world, where husband and wife are often taken with career and are unable to raise children. I loved this part of the movie, the relationship subplot between Adonis and Bianca was well written and both Tessa Thompson and Michael Jordan performed best when they were together on screen.
The 2nd half of the story is the boxing part, which was terrible. It was written poorly, acted poorly, especially by Stallone. I though Sylvester Stallone was an absolute piece of iron in this film, no pun intended. Just like Ivan Drago called him in Rocky 4, Stallone was as stiff and as wooden as ever. His acting was just flat out lethargic and bad.
It was so predicatable....and in a sense, it was a remake of Rocky 4 and Rocky 3 mixed together. One of the most unoriginal Rocky movies ever. A complete cash cow in every sense of the word. I was hoping for some remorse from Drago, perhaps a showing of respect between him and Rocky, but there was none of that. The scene between Rocky and Ivan in the restaurant was cringe worthy.
Michael B Jordan is a pretty good actor and overall, he was excellent in this. He stole every scene. I loved Tessa but she lacked energy during the fight scenes. She hardly seemed scared for her husband as he took a beating.
I can't give this film more than a 6. I admit, I was never bored during watching despite the horrible writing. There were some good, human, heartfelt moments, including at the end. I doubt I would watch this film again though, unlike Rocky 4, which was a film I've seen over a dozen times.