CREED II (2018)

CREED II (2018)

Tagline: The Legend Becomes Stronger.

(Action, Drama, Punching People's Lights Out) [PG-13]

It may not seem like it now, but... this is more than just a fight.

I absolutely loved CREED and thought it was a lot better than the ROCKY BALBOA movie, but I understand they wanted to close that series out. So naturally I was pretty excited to see the 2nd installment. In this one Adonis Creed has his title, but a newcomer is rising in the ranks and openly challenges him to a fight. Of course that is Viktor Drago the son of Ivan Drago, who Rocky beat years ago (ROCKY IV). Adonis is naturally interested because this is the son of the man that killed his father in the ring, but will the physical and psychological price tag be too high to pay?

Once again Michael B. Jordan delivers an amazing performance as Adonis and Tessa Thompson picks up right where she left off as Bianca. I won’t say what is going on with them, but it’s very touching. Stallone of course nails this role (again) and we even get a Dolph Lundgren sighting. Overall the performances are just top-notch in this thing and emotionally that draws you in on this one. 

Unfortunately, I thought the script was plagued with too many formulaic turns. This is not to indicate boxing movies are some sort of mystery we are trying to figure out. We know why we bought the ticket or streamed this thing or bought the BLU-RAY. This one just feels extremely predictable. Like going to a job you have worked at for years where the task is pretty much what you did the day before. The motivations however do seem realistic, just being a man, I completely understand the drive to want to be like your father (if you have a good one) or surpass him and be an even better man. Sometimes in that journey, you do some pretty dangerous stuff to try and capture that goal. 

For the performances and brilliant direction, we get from Steven Caple Jr, I have to give CREED II a solid 5 out of 7. I don’t know if it will blow anyone’s mind, but it’s got more than enough updated feel while still touching on nostalgia to keep fans of this series very happy. Unless of course you were expecting a non-stop action flick or just don’t have an emotional bone in your body. 

GRAPHICS ARE THE PROPERTY OF MGM AND ARE USED FOR REVIEW PURPOSES ONLY.  

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