Review of Creed II (2018) by Alex A — 26 Nov 2018

I remember only liking Creed(2015). The hype probably spoiled it for me somewhat, but I still thought it was good. As it stands for Creed 2, I enjoyed the heck out of it.

Michael B. Jordan is still one of my favorite actors of the current generation. You feel the pain of Adonis throughout the film thanks to Jordan's conviction-filled performance. Stallone once again effortlessly plays the seasoned veteran Rocky with that dad-like persona towards his protege. These 2 have excellent chemistry.

The cinematography is handled well and shot in a way that makes you feel like your inside the ring whenever a brawl is going down, and personally every shot given by Viktor Drago made me cringe, knowing that, like his old man, every shot has the power to be a death blow. His performance isn't blow away and his character isn't that deep aside from one scene where he vents to his father about his sense of abandonment towards his mother. This is barely a nitpick, because at least they gave the antagonist his own human side and personal struggle to avoid making him a one note baddie.

Though the outcome of Adonis overcoming the odds and achieving what his father couldn't was predictable, the climactic rematch between he and Drago didn't fail to delivery the intensity regardless. Viktor is such a behemoth of a man that regardless of how much gruelling training Adonis goes through you still worry and fear for his safety against an opponent of such intimidating prowess and strength.

The subplot regarding Bianca and Creed's relationship, marriage and baby are handled warmly, making the characters even more 3-dimensional. I do however feel that sometimes this aspect of the story is stretched thin if only by a little bit, somewhat detracting from the primarily hard-hitting and sharply intense nature of the film.

Nonetheless, Creed 2 does what a sequel should do. It ups the stakes for the hero, puts them in an even more difficult situation than the preceding installment, makes them vulnerable and scared, only to have them succeed and beat the odds in order to cement their legacy. Adonis grows as a character, from a troubled young man in part 1 to a now husband and father who is not only fighting for his family, but for his life.

The Rocky franchise is still pushing it to the limit and punching it's way through generation after generation. Creed 2 is a heavy hitting knockout of a film.