Creed: Ringing the Bell on a New Champion

One series down. One more to go.

Despite my many, many grievances with the later films, I still (mostly) enjoyed my time with the Rocky movies. We had one genuinely incredible movie, followed by a lot of dumb fun with some highlights and mind-shattering lows. If nothing else, they gave me plenty to talk about.

But with Hollywood, only one thing is certain. No matter how long a series goes on, no matter how bad it gets, it will always come back. Sequels, reboots, remakes. It’s inevitable.

As is the case with today’s movie: Creed. Will it be another soulless cash grab? Or is there more here than the industry standard?

Get your gloves up and put in that mouth guard. It’s time for another bout.

Los Angeles, 1998. A riot breaks out in a juvenile detention center, and the key player, a boy named Adonis, is dragged upstairs to isolation. Much to the chagrin of his mystery visitor. I thought she was his mother, but no; turns out, she’s the wife of the boy’s father, who had an affair and passed before he was born. Despite his being a bastard, she wants the boy to come live with her. Staring down at his bruised fists, the boy asks the question: “What was his name?” Cutting to the title card, we get our answer: Creed.

This is a pretty damn strong start! It sets a the tone perfectly, introduces our protagonist and his central internal conflict, and creates a lot of intrigue for what is to come. So far so good.

Cut to Tijuana, 2015. Adonis, now fully grown and played by Michael B. Jordan, wraps his hands in gauze to prepare for an underground boxing match. The fight itself is pretty good; we view the fight from a low angle outside the ring, creating the sense that we are part of the crowd, watching live as Adonis knocks the man out in less than one minute.

Hard cut to an office space in California. Adonis, now dressed in a suit, goes about his office job with all the excitement and vigor you’d expect. But he’s not sticking around long; strolling into his boss’s office, he hands in his letter of resignation. Odd, given he was just promoted. It seems his heart is set elsewhere.

Heading home, he tries and fails to tell his adopted mother that he quit, then heads to his man cave to watch boxing. Specifically, a match we’re all very familiar with: Rocky VS Creed, round two. As the music rises, Adonis begins to shadow box along with the match. He doesn’t just want to box; he wants to be the best.

Cut to the next day. Adonis wraps his hands again, preparing to enter the same gym his father trained in. But he’s not welcome; despite plastering Apollo Creed’s name on the front door, the coach is reluctant to let his son train there. So he takes drastic measures to prove himself. Challenging the other members of the gym, he makes a bet: they land one headshot on him, they get his Mustang.

This is where the movie does something pretty cool. As it cuts to the other gym members, a little breakdown of their stats appears beside them. Their name, ring name, win-loss record, and achievements are all listed. It’s an interesting stylistic choice that looks cool, gives some extra detail to characters that otherwise would likely not be developed at all, and creates a simple way to establish the threat an opponent poses without needless exposition. It’s awesome!

Adonis deals with his first opponent easily, not even needing to put on his headgear. Cocky and angry, he shouts trash at just about the whole gym. But when his second challenger appears, the tone shifts drastically. Adonis is visibly afraid, as we can see even before he puts on his head gear. It’s a more even fight, but in the end, Adonis is knocked flat, defeated, and humiliated.

Heading home, Adonis comes clean to his mother. Naturally, she’s rather upset with his boxing shenanigans. She lived with the world boxing champion, and she saw what the career did to him, even before it got him killed. It’s nice to see Apollo’s death, which was so underwhelming in Rocky IV, have such a substantial effect on those he left behind.

It hurts even more in real life since Carl Weathers passed.

Despite her objections, Adonis is set on his path. He’s fighting full-time, and he’s off to live on his own. He promises to call, but she’s so livid with him that she tells him not to bother. Hardly the heartfelt farewell he was probably hoping for.

Philadelphia. Adonis sets himself up with a tiny apartment and pays a visit to Rocky’s statue. Which was taken down in Rocky VI, so I guess that’s not canon anymore. Except that it is, because he then makes his way over to Adrian’s.

Here, we’re reunited once again with the man himself: Rocky Balboa, played again by the legend, Sylvester Stallone. He wants the former champ to train him, but Rocky makes it clear he’s intent on staying retired. When Adonis reveals who he is, however, our beloved champ is left shaken. Rocky regrets not stopping Apollo’s last fight, but Adonis thinks he did the right thing. Yet Rocky is still unconvinced.

Heading home, Creed watches a news update on an upcoming boxing match (brought to you by HBO Sports). The current champ is soon off to prison, and the challenger, the same guy who rocked Donnie’s shit earlier, is gunning for the title. As we later learn, however, the only battle these two are going to have is in a court room, due to one hitting the other in a pre-match promotional event.

Meanwhile, our boy can’t even get a good night’s sleep. So he complains to his neighbor, played by Tessa Thompson, who promptly ignores him. Welcome to apartment living, Adonis. You’ll get used to it.

The next morning, he heads off to Micky’s old gym to sign up. We meet another boxer and the definitely not shady coach, but that’s about it. That night, on his jog, he discovers an interesting poster. Turns out, his rude neighbor performs at a local night club. He has gone from annoyed to intrigued.

Visiting Adrian’s, Adonis tries to get some advice from Rocky on how to improve. He insists on not using Creed’s name, and Rocky insists on not training him. Finally, Rocky caves, just a little, and gives the up and comer some training routines. But not to be ungrateful, he at least helps unpack the restaurant’s supplies.

*There’s a kind of funny bit here where Adonis confuses Rocky with modern tech babble. It’s not important to the story or anything, but it gave me a hearty chuckle. These two have some fun banter!

That night, Adonis tries to call his mother, but ends up on voicemail. In need of a break, he invites his musical neighbor out for dinner. She takes him to a nice restaurant, teaches him the local slang, and learns that her hearing is gradually fading. But when she tries to turn the conversation to him, he puts his walls up lightning quick.

When I first saw this scene, I wasn’t impressed. It’s your standard average romantic tension scene. They’ve got some decent chemistry, sure, but we don’t even know her name yet.

But then the movie does something really interesting. Right after this scene, we cut to Rocky visiting a familiar graveyard to speak with Adrian and Paulie (never thought I’d get misty-eyed over him, but here we are). For his wife, he has a rose. For his brother, whiskey. Where Donnie’s love life is just starting, Rocky’s is long over and gone. If that first scene was a feint, then this one is a sucker punch.

This visit with his departed family helps him make up his mind. Heading to Mickey’s, Rocky is given a warm welcome. The new head coach tries to push his son into Rocky’s corner, getting rather agitated when Adonis steals the Italian Stallion’s attention. After a heartfelt speech, Rocky decides at last to train Adonis.

So he has the boy chase chickens.

I like to think that he isn’t even training him, he just did it to fuck with the kid because he’s old and bored.

One training montage later, Rocky delivers some pretty strong advice to Adonis. Facing him against a mirror, he introduces his student to the greatest opponent he’ll ever face in both boxing and life: himself. It’s a powerful lesson, a great evolution from his arc in the first and third movies.

Next, Donnie visits his neighbor’s apartment. They hang out, joke around, kiss, usual romantic cuteness. It would be pretty adorable, if we knew what her name was!! I scoured the move up unto this point, and she still hasn’t introduced herself!

*Her name is Bianca. As we learn from… Rocky a few scenes later? I guess Adonis told him. But I’m getting ahead of myself.

Back at the gym, the head coach tries to set up a match between his son and Adonis. Rocky, however, is skeptical; he doesn’t want his new student to go off and get killed. But Adonis is hungry; he sees his chance to prove himself, and he’s eager to take it. So he moves in to Rocky’s place for a few weeks of extensive, dedicated training.

We also learn that Robert is living in Vancouver now, so he won’t be in this movie.

Oh no. However will I manage without him? He was always the worst best!

Heading to a new gym to train, Rocky introduces Adonis to his new dream team of cutters and trainers. But being the hothead he is, he starts to grow frustrated and butt heads with his peers. I’m sure that fiery temper won’t cause him any problems at all down the road.

It’s time for the first match. Things are starting to get intense. The rival coach has found out who Adonis really is, and he definitely isn’t going to do anything with that. As the ref explains the rules, everything goes quiet, then Adonis starts to freak out.

The match itself is pretty cool! There are no cuts, just a continuous long-take hovering around the fighters. When Donnie takes a hit, the camera spins around him, creating a strong sense of dizziness and disorientation. The music is low, barely audible beneath the chanting of the crowd, slowly rising in intensity the longer the match goes on. To top it all off, the choreography is incredible! If the final match is half as good as this one, it’ll be a fight for the ages!

But let’s not get too far ahead of ourselves. We’re only halfway through the movie. If Rocky V taught me anything, that’s more than enough time to plunge a knife into my back.

Anyway, Adonis and Bianca bang on Rocky’s couch. How Donnie managed to get it up with his adopted grandpa upstairs, I’ll never understand.

Their shared bliss only lasts the night, however. Surprising literally no one, the other coach did, in fact, snitch about Donnie’s father, and now Bianca is mad that Donnie hid that from her. So the two hash it out in the street, make up, and everything is fine.

I’ll be honest, I’m not incredibly invested in the romance subplot. I don’t think it’s bad by any means; both actors are doing great with the material and there is some decent chemistry between the characters. But it’s definitely the least interesting part of the movie so far. Again, though: we’re only halfway through. Maybe I’ll warm up to it.

With his true name making headlines, Adonis draws the attention of the criminal champion: ‘Pretty’ Ricky Conlan, played by Tony Bellew. His manager smells blood in the water and money in the air; an exhibition match between Apollo Creed’s bastard son and the current champion would make a fortune. But Conlan doesn’t want to do it; he doesn’t want his legacy to be rigged fights and crime. But his manager, down to earth, is more concerned over whether the champ’s kids will have a roof over their heads when he goes to prison.

So the manager calls up Rocky and they have a meeting. But there’s a condition: if he’s going to fight, Adonis needs to change his name to Creed. Having tried so hard to forge his own path, Donnie isn’t too happy with this. He’s faced with a difficult choice: swallow his pride and seize the opportunity, or keep going on his own and let it pass him by.

After a heart-to-heart with Bianca, Adonis makes up his mind. He’ll fight. One more heart-to-heart later, this time with Rocky, and it’s time to train for the big match.

Until Rocky drops and needs to be rushed to the hospital. The diagnosis: cancer.

I’m not gonna lie guys: this scene messed me up. My own grandfather passed after a fight with cancer a few years back; we weren’t as close as I’d have liked, but it still hurt like a motherfucker. Seeing Rocky’s reaction to the diagnosis, him remembering Adrian in her own fight with cancer, it just… it got to me. Maybe it’s silly for me to feel like this because of some boxing movies, most of which aren’t even that good, but there it is.

When Adonis finds out, he naturally wants Rocky to start treatment. But Rocky doesn’t want that. He wants another day with his wife, and he knows damn well he’s not going to get it. Everyone and everything he loves has moved on; all except for him. As far as he’s concerned, he’s got nothing left to live for. Adonis is hurt by this; he’s come to see his coach as family, and Rocky’s readiness to die and leave him alone hurts. Even Rocky himself regrets his words as soon as the kid is storms out. It’s a huge emotional gut punch that honestly got me misty eyed.

It’s at this point in the film that Donnie hits his low point. He flies off into a rage before Bianca’s concert and winds up in a holding cell. Rocky tries to visit him, but he pushes him away. He’s lost his mentor, his girlfriend, even the gym he trains in gets shut down.

Like any good fighter, he doesn’t stay down for long. Returning home, he and Rocky come to an agreement: to fight. So, with Rocky starting chemo and Donnie’s determination steeled, we begin the training montage.

This is one of the more interesting montages in the series. It isn’t just glorious exercise and boxing. It’s interspliced with Rocky’s struggle against cancer, as well as the champion’s own training. Combined with a dramatic remix of the classic series signature montage theme, it’s one of the highlights of the film. They even do the Rocky II thing, with a crowd following Adonis on his run. Just replace hordes of people jogging down the street with a crew of kids on dirt bikes.

Cut to Liverpool. The stage is set for Adonis VS Conlan, and the two are doing a press event to prepare. But before the fight begins, Conlan aims an attack at Donnie’s greatest weakness: his pride. Trash talk quickly escalates, and the conference comes to an abrupt end.

After making amends with Bianca in the bedroom (off-screen this time), Adonis gets a surprise gift from his mother: his father’s shorts, modified to include his birth mother’s last name. One quick warm-up later, and it’s time. One long take through a booing crowd, and Adonis is in the ring.

Then Conlan comes in with a god damn WWE entrance, complete with a fucking fire-breather! He… he does remember he’s a boxer, right? Can’t lie, though: it’s pretty damn menacing. Especially when his stats splash onto the screen. It does a great job of establishing the champ’s true threat.

So, here we are. Adonis VS Conlan. Is it another match for the ages, as Rocky VS Apollo was before? Or is this another letdown?

It starts off as an actual boxing match (brought to you by HBO Boxing) with that static sports cam you’d see in the real sport. But once the hands start to fly, the camera gets much closer. It blends the long rotating shots of the previous fight with the realistic TV angles. There’s no music; just the ambient sounds of the crowd and the gloves.

Not until Creed lands his first blow. With the music kicking into high gear, the fight starts to take on the same montage style as the original fights. There’s also some really cool editing; when Conlan goes on the offensive, the arena grows suddenly dark, like he’s some demon on a rampage.

Blood splatters the ring. The cutters prepare their tools with each blow. The rounds keep rising, five, ten, twelve. When Adonis goes down, you can see every muscle in his body ripple with the impact. His life flashes before his eyes, and with the image of his father in his mind, he rises again to finish the fight.

This is the first fight in the series to give me the same rush as the original. The exhaustion. The triumph. The bloody ferocity, the intensity, the desperation. When that victory music kicks in at the end, I damn near cheered!

So, yeah. It was pretty damn good.

Having proven himself to himself, Adonis and the family return home victorious. Climbing the iconic steps together, Adonis and Rocky have one last heart-to-heart as we fade to black. With that, the movie ends.

Creed is a fantastic movie! It takes everything that made the original Rocky so special and brings a whole new identity to it! This was the breath of fresh air I sorely needed! I enjoyed myself from start to end!

Yet the question remains: will this trilogy stand on its own? Will Creed be a knock-out, or will it, too, find itself trapped in a shadow?

Only two movies to go. Please, God, let them be good…