Creed II: Putting the Past to Rest

I didn’t know much about this movie going in. Some friends told me they didn’t enjoy it, and that’s about it. I was basically blind.

Still, it couldn’t be that bad. This series has seen some historic lows in the past. Besides, the first Creed movie was great! So, what did we get?

Oh. It’s Rocky IV part two.

Well, IV wasn’t nearly so miserable as V or VI. Maybe it’ll work out!

Kyiv, Ukraine. The movie opens in a blue-tinted home, where a boxer is roused from his sleep by his coach for a morning run. That night, in a boxing match, the boxer claims victory to a reaction mixed with boos and cheers. Then bam! Title card.

As a start, this is… alright. It establishes our antagonists and sets a darker, more grim tone than the previous film. But that’s about it. Still, not a bad start.

Cut to Bianca. She looks out at a crowd from behind the stage, terrified. Adonis is about to get down to business, preparing for the title bout. If he wins, he’ll be heavy weight champion of the world. His opponent: his sparring partner from the first film, the guy he lost his Mustang to. She makes some jokes to comfort him, Rocky gives him a pretty badass pep talk, then the match begins.

Brought to you by Jersey Mikes.

*Look, I get product placement is all over the place in real sporting events too, but when I watch a movie, I want to be thinking about the movie, not a god damn sandwich from a chain only slightly better than fucking Subway!

This opening fight is weird. The choreography is fine and the camerawork is still exciting. But most of the hits lack any real impact. Even the massive slow-motion hits where the fighter hits the mat are underwhelming! This is supposed to be a championship bout, but neither fighter even gets a bruise!

Remember: this is for the world championship. The same title that Rocky and Apollo nearly murdered each other over. Twice. And Adonis wins it not only before the ten minute mark, but without losing one drop of blood. Even the crowd’s reaction is underwhelming!

*Note: this does play a bit into the themes of the film later on. Creed himself is unsatisfied with the win, and most people treat his victory like it was a shoe-in and his opponent was on his way out the door anyways. Still, you’d think a fight would be exciting in a movie about boxing. The opening fight in Rocky 1 was pretty cool, even if it was really short, as an example.

Having secured the championship, Donnie wants to propose to Bianca, so he goes to Rocky for advice. What would be a really sweet scene is ruined by the direction and editing. It’s just shot-reverse-shot of the two standing in a hallway and talking. It’s so boring that it would be a significant improvement if you just had them walking down a hallway.

Mastering his nerves, Adonis proposes to Bianca. But it doesn’t go according to plan. Her hearing problems are getting worse, and all his loving pre-amble fell on literal deaf ears. Some awkward fumbling later, she says yes, and the two are engaged! Hooray! It’s like Rocky and Adrian all over again!

Only instead of a cute date to the zoo, we immediately get a sex scene.

Would you believe me if I told you said sex scene is the most important scene in the movie?

Back in Ukraine, we catch up with that boxer from the beginning. His name: Viktor. His actor: Florian Munteanu. After another match, he and his coach meet their promoter in the parking lot. Apparently it’s time for… something. Ooh, ominous!

Returning to Donnie and Bianca: she wants to move back to LA to get their married life started, but Donnie has reservations. He’s not ready to leave Rocky behind just yet. Speaking of whom, our old champ is struggling to reconnect with his son (because that’s the only plotline Robert is allowed to be a part of, apparently) so he goes to talk it over with Adrian’s grave.

Meanwhile, Viktor and his coach have arrived in America. Standing atop the iconic steps, glaring at Rocky’s statue, the coach stares out over Philly. That night, when Rocky heads to Adrian’s, he finds the coach waiting for him. Here, we at last learn the old man’s identity: Apollo Creed’s killer, Ivan Drago, played once again by Dolph Lundgren.

And he’s got actual dialogue this time! Wow! Character development!

In all seriousness, I actually really like what they did to Drago here. In the original, he had no personality whatsoever; he was a Russian boxing machine, so he was written to be flat and devoid of personality. Here, he’s out for vengeance. After losing to Rocky, he lost his title, his reputation, and even his wife. Now he’s too old to claim revenge against the champ himself, so he’ll take the next best thing: his son’s glory over Rocky’s protégé.

*I do appreciate that Drago notices the pictures up on the wall of Adrian’s. All the memories of Rocky’s glory days, yet Drago is unaccounted for. It makes sense that Rocky wouldn’t want to remember the man who murdered his rival/mentor/friend. Plus, it gives our main antagonist even more drive to hurt our protagonists; Rocky essentially ruined his life, now he won’t even keep a picture of him up on the wall. It’s a small detail, but a well-written one.

This is the setup for the plot. Ivan and his son Viktor are here to challenge Rocky and Adonis. A blood match between the sons of the murderer and the murdered. Not gonna lie, it’s actually a really cool idea! It’s a great way to acknowledge Rocky IV and do something interesting with it!

Now all we need is Paulie’s robot wife and we’re all set!

*Note: Paulie’s robot wife does not appear in this movie. 0/10, garbage film.

Adonis is naturally rattled by the news of the Drago’s arrival. Rocky encourages his student to let go of his personal grudges, to not let his father’s killer haunt him. But that’s clearly easier said than done.

Anyways, Bianca has a concert. It’s not my kind of music, so I can’t say I enjoyed this scene very much. Nor can I really say if it is technically good music or not.

But that’s not the point of the scene. Up above, Donnie watches his fiancé perform when he’s joined by Viktor’s promoter. It’s more boring shot-reverse-shot dialogue, but at the very least, said dialogue is well-written. The promoter presses all the right buttons to rile Adonis up.

Feathers sufficiently ruffled, Adonis goes to Rocky for help. He wants to take the fight, but Rocky is vehemently against it. My man is still haunted by that entire debacle and he wants no part of it anymore. Unwilling to bury another Creed, Rocky decides he won’t train him for the fight.

With Rocky stepping out of their lives, Donnie and Bianca leave Philly for LA. But before they can get settled in, they’ve got to deliver some news to Donnie’s mom. So the film hard-cuts straight to the middle of dinner in the most abrupt and jarring edits I’ve ever seen!

Now, I might be missing something: Donnie’s mom hasn’t met Bianca at all yet. Unless it happened off-screen between movies. This could have been a great time for them to meet. They get along, the energy in the room is high, it’s fun and sweet, then Donnie drops the news about who he’s fighting and the tone shifts dramatically. It could have been a really emotional and compelling scene!

We get none of that. Instead, we get something else entirely: Bianca is pregnant! But the two are more terrified than excited. They feel completely unprepared to raise a kid. Still, they are glad for the news.

Only then does Adonis break the news to his mother. While she’s not happy with his decision, she knows she can’t do anything to change it. Even so, she gives him a clear warning. A Drago took Donnie’s father away; if he’s not careful, history may repeat itself and leave his own child fatherless.

Returning to his father’s gym, Adonis convinces the coach to help him train for the fight. You know what that means: montage time! Only this time, it’s interspliced with interview footage from the two fighters talking smack.

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During the weigh in (after another abrupt and jarring cut; those aren’t going away, are they?), the Dragos quickly get under Donnie’s skin. In the battle of the minds, Adonis has already lost.

Meanwhile, Rocky is… rolling dough.

RIVETING.

It’s around this point where I notice the severe drop in style from the first movie to this one. Creed 1 had the badass splash screens that showed a fighter’s record; it was a great way to establish a fighter’s threat, give them some history, and it just looked cool to boot. Alas, those are no longer used in Creed II.

Oh, but we still have WWE entrances.

Not gonna lie, though: if real boxing had these, I’d probably watch it more often.

Now it’s time for the fight. Adonis VS Viktor round one. It’s definitely a step up from the opening fight. Creed gets bloodied and knocked around like a doll. We even get some first-person shots from his perspective, which makes Viktor seem like a genuine monster. There’s even some strong drama, with Ivan uses his mother to motivate him via emotional abuse.

*I do love Rocky’s role in the fight. In this case, his lack thereof. All he can do is watch from home and give advice he knows his student can’t here. Sylvester Stallone gives another fantastic performance in this scene; you can see the fear growing in his eyes as he nervously paces back and forth, unable to tear himself away from the screen for long, shouting helplessly for someone to stop the fight. It’s an incredible scene and one of the best moments of the character!

**I wish I could say the same for Bianca. She just looks bored! Even when Donnie is laying on the mat, potentially dying, she’s as flat as a billboard! I don’t want to blame Tessa Thompson, because in the next scene, she gives a great performance! Maybe the director told her to look disinterested in the fight, I dunno.

Though Donnie is beaten bloody and defeated, unsportsmanlike conduct from Viktor disqualifies him; thus Adonis keeps the championship. But that silver lining does little to lift his spirits. Rocky tries to comfort him, but Donnie isn’t having it. He feels defeated, humiliated, and broken. Feelings not helped when he gets out of the hospital; he limps along, pisses blood, and can barely get his medication down. Our newest champion is down and out.

During the depression train, we get the most awkward and jarring cut of the film so far. Now several months pregnant, Bianca goes about decorating the baby’s room. One shot, she’s clearly alone. Then there’s another cut, and Donnie is sitting there behind her! Like he appeared out of nowhere! It feels like they cut the scene to pieces and only kept the beginning and end!

Luckily, this is followed by a scene I actually really liked! During a celebration of Viktor’s successes, he’s visited by an unexpected guest: his mother. But her presence makes him visibly uncomfortable. He storms out, raging against those who would celebrate him, enraged that they would turn around so quickly after so easily betraying his father. Ivan tries to comfort him: he lost, so he deserved it, but Viktor won’t. Yet you can tell the son is contemplating a dangerous question: what happens if he loses? It’s emotional, it’s engaging, it’s great! Ivan went from the worst Rocky villain to one of the best, and Viktor is great too!

Back at the gym, Donnie and his new coach discuss their next opponent. If he wants to keep the title, he needs to fight. But Donnie won’t even enter the gym. His defeat still hangs over him, just as his father’s legacy did in the first film.

Meanwhile, Rocky gets a letter from Adonis’ mother. A cry for help on her son’s behalf. Accompanied by a picture of his unborn baby.

So the two finally meet up and bury the hatchet. Just in time, too, because Bianca’s gone into labor! The baby is born! Hooray!

She may also be deaf. But that’s okay. Baby’s got two loving parents, and that’s more than enough.

When the two return home, Bianca leaves the baby with Adonis. After a painfully relatable montage of an unprepared father helplessly trying to care for his daughter, he takes her to the gym with him so he can clear his head. Sitting between his daughter and a punching bag, he finally finds his equilibrium. Accompanying this is a beautiful piano rendition of the classic Rocky training theme.

So he decides to fight Drago again. Forget the fact that he has nothing to gain and everything to lose. He’s a fighter, and he wouldn’t be complete if he didn’t fight. Only now, he’s got Rocky and his family in his corner, so he’s sure to win.

Not gonna lie: I don’t like this all that much. This whole movie has been asking the question: should Adonis fight Drago? He’s got nothing to gain and everything to lose. For fuck sake, it’s what got his father killed! I thought this was going to be a story about him letting go of the past, of choosing his living daughter over his father’s ghost. I honestly think the movie would’ve been better off if Donnie chose not to fight!

But you can’t end a boxing movie without a fight! That might just be too interesting!

*They totally make up for it later, though.

One more training montage later (one of the better ones in the franchise, I must say), and it’s time for the grand finale. Moscow, Russia. Adonis VS Viktor, round two. In terms of pure visuals, it’s definitely a spectacle; I especially love how the lights make a cage around the ring. But how’s the actual fight?

It’s pretty good. It’s visceral, the choreography is cool, and the impact behind the blows is real. My only real problem with it is the extensive us of slow-motion; I think they were trying to us it in order to emphasize the power of the blows, but ironically only did the opposite. Still, it’s far from the worst fight in the series. It still feels brutal, exhausting, and fairly exciting.

Especially because it has one of the best endings. I love this finale! Ivan, seeing his son get beaten bloodied, becomes emotional and afraid. Lundgren’s performance in this moment is jaw-dropping; his expressions are more powerful than dialogue ever could be! So he swallows his pride, forgets his vengeance, and does the one thing Apollo Creed could never do: he throws in the towel. It’s surprisingly powerful, and a fitting end to his character arc!

I can say the same for Rocky. Creed offers him into the ring to celebrate, but Rocky remains where he is, sat on the sidelines. All he’s got to say to his protégé is: “It’s your time.” As the world celebrates Adonis’ victory, our former protagonist just sits by, content to watch, the ghosts of his past finally put at peace.

With their victory earned, Adonis and Rocky go to face their last battles. Donnie goes to Apollo’s grave to introduce him to his granddaughter. Meanwhile, Rocky goes to visit Robert, played once again by Milo Ventimiglia, and finally meet his grandson. It’s a beautiful ending, and I’d be lying if I said it didn’t get me a little misty eyed.

Despite my laundry list of criticisms, I actually really enjoyed Creed II! It had some editing problems and the story had a few lows, especially at the start. But it does what it set out to do surprisingly well! It really managed to win me over by the end!

Is it an amazing movie? Eh, not quite. But I do think it’s a good one. Definitely one of the stronger films in the franchise.

And with that, we’re in the last stretch. Only one movie left.

Get ready. It’s almost time for the last round.