We start in 1998, a young Adonis Creed is in juvenile detention once again for fighting. This young tearaway has found himself pin balling between juve' and foster homes all his life, having his mother and father both passing away. Here he is introduced Mary Anne Creed, widow of the late Apollo Creed, Adonis' boxing champion of a father. Although not being Adonis' mother however (Apollo had an affair with his mother), she takes him in as her own and raises him as if he was.
We skip to present day and Adonis has now settled into full-time employment in LA and has begun fighting on his own. Wanting to stake his claim in the boxing world though, he quits his job, leaves Mary Anne and heads out in search of his father's greatest opponent, Rocky Balboa. Adonis tracks down a now older and somewhat wiser Rocky, and attempts to persuade him to train the young Creed. After some initial scepticism, Rocky agrees, and the two begin together on the road to boxing greatness.
This film isn't solely about boxing, but its greatest scenes are those of when Adonis is either fighting, or training with Rocky. The chemistry between the two is one of contrast and intrigue, an impatient youth and an experienced fighter. It wouldn't be a good boxing film without a few well placed training montages of course, and these come with some fantastic moments as well as some cheesy yet inspirational backing tracks.
Adonis' is reluctant to use his father's name to help him along the way to stardom, and him and Rocky attempt to keep his name under wraps for as long as possible. Like Adonis, this movie heads out to make a claim of it's own, without falling back on the success of it's predecessors. And even though it follows the same methodical route that origin boxing movies take, it does this well. It's worked before, and with some good acting, it has done it again.
Along the way Adonis falls in love with a young singer, Bianca (Tessa Thompson). The story between them is good, but doesn't appear to change the direction of the story, it only reinforces the emotional ties in the plot, and gives Adonis something else to fight for.
The cinematography in is the movie is fantastic. Adonis' first professional fight with Rocky in his corner is just as good, if not better than the film's finale bout. Some of the fighting scenes appear to have been filmed in one shot, with the camera panning around from fighter to fighter as they exchange blows and dodge counters. It's great to watch and places the viewer closer to the action than ever before, it's immersive, and adds fantastic tension. The final fight is the climax of the film, which catches the audience rooting for the honest underdog against a cocky proven fighter. The boxing in these scenes don't quite match the intensity and raw nature of the first, but the stakes for Adonis' will to win have increased, and give a very emotional feel to it as a whole.
Being Michael B Jordan's first attempt at a protagonist role, he's remarkable. Not only winning the hearts of the viewer with some strong line delivery, he's also clearly worked extremely hard to perfect his boxing. As mentioned before, the greatest moments in this Rocky installment are when he's staking his claim in the ring.
With Jordan giving an incredible performance as young Creed, Stallone doesn't for one minute let him steal all the plaudits. His character has naturally progressed into a more mature and wise Balboa, and Stallone delivers this well.
The movie gives as much as Rocky's original did back in '76. Michael B Jordan is great and it wouldn't be a surprise or an upset to see him take on his role as Creed again. The story follows the same route as previous boxing origins, but this isn't a bad thing. If it ain't broke, don't fix it.
