★ 4

– Surya Vijay Urs

Info

Duration: 2h13mins

Genre: Drama, Sport

Starring: Michael B. Jordan, Sylvester Stallone

Director: Ryan Coogler

Year Released: 2015

2015 was the year of reboots, with movies such as Mad Max: Fury Road, Jurassic World, and Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens bringing back beloved series to the big screen – the Rocky franchise was no exception as writer-director Ryan Coogler, well known for his widely acclaimed debut Fruitvale Station, brings about his second collaboration with Michael B. Jordan on the movie Creed – making it the seventh instalment in the series.

It took a lot of convincing from Coogler to get the project green-lit – Stallone was initially reluctant to support the production of this movie as he was satisfied with Rocky Balboa (2006) as the conclusion of the Rocky series, but the persistence and passion Coogler had for the project was enough for Stallone to give the go for it. Especially since Stallone’s son Sage had just recently passed away, the movie continued production as a dedication to him.



The movie opens with the protagonist, a young Adonis Creed, provoked into a fight in a Los Angeles youth facility. The character is then met by Apollo Creed’s wife Mary Anne, who decides to take Adonis under her wing to avoid a life of violence that her husband took and suffered the consequences for. 17 years later and Adonis is working at a securities firm by day, and fighting by night. He eventually leaves the firm to pursue his passion of boxing by heading to the Delphi Boxing Academy, where his father was trained. After proving that he is still a raw and untrained fighter, he travels to Philadelphia to get in touch with Rocky Balboa, with hopes that Balboa will be the one to train him. After visiting Rocky at his restaurant Adrian’s and letting him know that he is indeed Apollo’s son, Rocky is initially hesitant, especially with what happened to Apollo in the ring against Ivan Drago. Eventually, he decides to mentor Adonis while Creed develops a relationship with singer-songwriter Bianca who is the girl next door (rather the girl downstairs).

“Hollywood” Donnie, under Rocky’s wing, wins his first proper match against local fighter Sporino, but unfortunately Adonis’ illegitimacy is leaked to the media as they begin to question whether Donnie will be able to live up to his father’s legacy. After this, Rocky and Adonis are approached by Pretty Ricky’s manager to be the final challenger before Ricky gets imprisoned. Donnie, scared of falling into Apollo’s shadow is initially reluctant, but eventually agrees. While training undergoes for the showdown, Rocky is diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma – but is reluctant to receive treatment for it because of the ineffectiveness of it with his wife Adriana and best friend Paulie. With sincere persuasion of “If I fight, you fight” from Adonis, he agrees to go ahead with it, with a classic training montage.

This may be a sports movie but it’s not only that – it’s a story about various struggles in life, whether it be Bianca’s (Tessa Thompson) progressive hearing loss, or Adonis’ (Michael B. Jordan) determination to prove himself, or Rocky’s (Sylvester Stallone) terminal cancer. The pure emotion emanating off the character’s as we see them develop throughout the plot is very relatable – when Rocky falls down in the ring and Adonis has to support him while calling out for Stitches, I really felt for Adonis as he sat in the hospital room waiting for good news.

Character development is especially prominent in Adonis’ storyline – as we can see the aggression and lack of trust shown in his actions from the very first scene when he gets into a fight with another juvenile. This aggression and recklessness is a recurring theme, and it reaches its peak during an altercation over being called “Baby Creed”. Love and family is also an important theme as it both gives motivation to Adonis but also weakens his judgment in certain scenarios: When Rocky starts to get overwhelmed at how empty his life has become as he says to Adonis that they aren’t family, the regret as he bites his tongue while Donnie walks away shows how angry he is at the situation. But when they reconcile, it’s as if nothing happens – and that’s what family is, moving on and making do with each other. There are, however; a few problems – I feel like Adonis’ relationship with Mary Anne wasn’t explored enough, as well as how Ricky Conlan’s storyline wasn’t shown enough – especially when they were training to fight.

The movie is balanced in emotions as there are also many humorous exchanges between the characters – one notable moment is when Adonis takes a picture of drills that Rocky writes on a piece of paper. When Rocky asks what will happen if Adonis’ phone breaks, he says “It’s already up in the cloud”. As he walks away, Rocky looks up and questions, “What cloud? WHAT CLOUD?”.

Ryan Coogler has done a very impressive job capturing the story – in cases such as when Young Adonis gets into a fight, a dual perspective is offered as the audience views what it is like to dominate and be victim to the fight. This technique is used again when Creed goes against Sporino, and huge props to Coogler because that two-round boxing match was taken in one single steadicam shot as the camera is never stagnant – it is constantly moving around the ring to capture the environment in a circular motion as again, we get to see both perspectives of the fight as the camera gets close to heighten the intensity.

Ludwig Goransson is the composer for this film, and is well known for having worked on New Girl and Community, as well as being a frequent collaborator with Donald Glover aka Childish Gambino (who is featured on a track). He also worked on Coogler’s debut and delivered a beautiful score. For a brand new character, Ludwig creates a fresh theme for Creed, while using interpolation’s of the original Rocky theme in scenes such as the final fight against Pretty Ricky. The soundtrack features Philadelphia natives Meek Mill, The Roots and John Legend, while collaborating with Tessa Thompson (Bianca) on the three tracks “Grip”, “Breathe”, & “Shed You”, in order to help find and develop the character within the music. Other artists include 2Pac, Jhene Aiko, Joey Bada$$, Nas, and more.



New York Times’ writer A.O. Scott commented that “A boxing movie without cliches is like a political campaign without lies”, and this is a statement that most people would generally agree on. Though there are several cliches throughout the movie, the formula works well, especially as this is an unconventional boxing movie with showcases an African-American boxer as opposed to the typical Caucasian boxer, as well as showcasing the tribulations a retired boxer goes through after being in the ring too long – potentially suffering from serious brain damage. What Rocky has to face is not something fans exactly expected and it was heartbreaking to see him in such a condition. All this leads to one moral – Never Give Up.

Adonis came to his own by finally accepting who he is – when Rocky pleads with Adonis to stop fighting, and Adonis directly tells Rocky he needs to prove “that I’m not a mistake,” chills ran down my spine as I finally realised the motivation, and it’s inspiring. As Adonis gets back up for the final round and knocks down Ricky in the final seconds, I couldn’t help but stand up and applaud for how far he has come since the beginning of the movie. Coogler set the ending so that there is a chance for Creed II to happen – and hopefully the current relationships established in this film are explored more in the next, and to see Rocky and Mary Anne reunite would be an emotional opportunity that cannot be passed up.

Thank you Ryan Coogler, thank you Aaron Covington, thank you Michael B. Jordan, and thank you most of all Sylvester Stallone, for giving us a movie that we never thought we wanted, but undoubtedly needed.

Acting: 4/5

Script and Screenplay: 3/5

Cinematography: 4/5

Music: 5/5

Editing: 4/5