The latest revival of a classic boxing series, Creed is a new take on the Rocky franchise and has been widely agreed to be the best Rocky film for years.
Adonis ‘Donnie’ Creed (played by Michael B. Jordan), the extramarital son of the late heavyweight champ, and rival-turned-friend of Rocky Balboa, Apollo Creed, grew up in foster care and juvenile detention units not knowing his father until Mary-Anne, Apollo’s widow, adopts him and explains his heritage. She unsuccessfully tries to discourage him from following his father into the ring, but, after his father’s old gym refuse to train him, Adonis decides to track down Rocky (Sylvester Stallone) and persuade him to become his trainer.
Initially reluctant Rocky eventually helps out, and thanks to some fortunate circumstances involving the Light Heavyweight Champion, ‘Tricky’ Ricky Conlan (Tony Bellew), his short temper, and the publicity the Creed name will bring to a fight, Adonis gets his chance to fight on the big stage, and prove he’s worthy of his last name.
One step at a time. One punch at a time. One round at a time.”
– Rocky Balboa
Michael B. Jordan put in some serious work for this film, training like a real boxer, which helps give credibility to the boxing scenes -part of the brilliance of Rocky was the Stallone always looked like a real boxer. The quality of the fight scenes isn’t surprising, Michael B. Jordan trained hard enough to become a ‘competent’ boxer according to Gabriel Rosado, one of five fighters who have parts in the film. The others are Tony Bellew (playing the ‘bad guy’ and opponent in the final climatic fight), Andre Ward, Malik Bazille and Tyrone Crawley Jr.
An underdog story through and through, with a strong theme of family and fulfilling your potential makes this is a great watch. It doesn’t fall into the dodgy remake category, it’s almost a stand alone film that happens to be in the rocky universe. It has some classic training montages, will have you cheering throughout the final fight and is well worth watching – especially as netflix has just put it online.
Most memorable line
“One step at a time. One punch at a time. One round at a time.” – Said repeatedly by Rocky throughout the film as a mantra to keep Adonis focused.
Our Rating
5 stars out of 5
You can see the trailer for Creed below.
