It does what it's supposed to do, entertain

Rating: 8/10 (4 August 2019)

I must be honest in saying that I don't expect much from these boxing movies, they're not great philosophical expressions, but they're not supposed to be -and that's ok. It's entertaining, engaging, action packed, with an appropriate sprinkling of drama and emotion.
I appreciate that sustained storyline and characters, developing from the previous movie nicely (not unexpectedly in any way but again, that's ok because the point here is the boxing) In fact, it's all interwoven quite nicely in my opinion, adding to the motivations of the character and, without revealing spoilers, I thought his entrance song to the final fight was a nice touch.
I've seen some reviews against the movie building on the premise that Adonis' character development was lacking and that they wanted to support Victor instead, both of which I will agree with. However, I think the integrity of the antagonist rounded out the plot very well and actually improved the overall storyline. If he were just another rude, bad-guy written to be purposely unlikeable, the movie would be a complete cliche. I found myself very sympathetic towards both Drogo and his son. I wanted to scream at them to stop, that they had all their priorities wrong, that what they were doing was never going to work out for them. At the end, I kind of just wanted to give Victor a hug.
I admit, nothing about the movie is particularly original or surprising, but not every movie has to be. I think it does what it's supposed to do and for that I give it merit. The soundtrack was good and the shots atmospheric. I snorted at the repeated (and very dramatic) use of spotlight on the boxing ring for the final fight but lest we forget it is a core dramatic technique, and that movies are drama, it worked well.