Review by Gilberto Campa
Michael B. Jordan steps back into the ring for the latest instalment and the ninth overall film in the Rocky franchise with Creed 3. The first Creed film back in 2015 was a beautiful and emotional reboot/restart of the Rocky series that introduced audiences to Adonis Creed (the illegitimate son of Apollo Creed) and his journey to becoming a champion and earning the Creed name, with the help of the ultimate underdog Rocky Balboa. This time around Adonis who has been the best in the game for the last eight years is having his retirement fight against his longtime rival “Pretty” Ricky Conlan, seemingly ending his career where it began.
For the first time in his career Michael B. Jordan is stepping into the Director’s chair, which was a very interesting choice but not a surprising one. Jordan has always had an interest behind the scenes in most of the projects that he’s involved with and has a very big following, so making this move is just another step into the growth of his career. He spent about three years from storyboarding, set design, casting and everything to get Creed 3 made and done in the vision that only he knew what would work. This franchise is already known for its amazing fight sequences that feel so real and add to the emotion to help enhance the story, but Michael B. Jordan takes those concepts to the next level.
Jordan isn’t shy with his love and appreciation of Anime, and as someone who also appreciates that style of media, it worked hand and hand with the Rocky franchise. There are shots that can only be described as “Anime” shots in much of the fights, especially towards the end that made it feel much bigger than a generic boxing match. Behind all that though is the incredibly emotional story at the core of this movie that has roots in many different types of Anime stories, without going into spoilers, just when Adonis thinks that he is going to walk into the sunset after a very successful career, his childhood friend Damian (Jonathan Major’s) comes back into his life after serving 18 years in Prison which further complicates things.
In terms of emotional stakes everyone brings they’re best in more ways than one, Michael B. Jordan, Tessa Thompson, Jonathan Majors, Phylicia Rashad and Wood Harris all deliver incredible performances. On top of all that though, Mila Davis-Kent as Apollo’s daughter Amara Creed stole the movie for me. Her chemistry with Tessa Thompson and Michael B. Jordan felt so earnest and real that it helped to make you even more invested if you were already a fan of the Creed films. The Chemistry between Major’s and Jordan was also done very well because the movie wouldn’t have worked if it didn’t. Michael B. Jordan delivers his best and most complex performance in this series, and Jonathan Major’s brings his unique style and charisma to the role of Damian, who I found myself rooting for at times.
The plot has some similarities to Rocky V but still manages to make it something original and relatable to modern times. The real big complaint about the movie that I have was the lack of a score as good as the first two movies. Ludwig Goransson wasn’t able to return to compose the music this time around, and you felt that at times while watching the film during the last fight. But other than that, the runtime was perfect in my opinion as everything wrapped up well, the emotion was there, and the stakes were very personal. This for me solidifies the Creed franchise as one of the best sport’s trilogies of all time. It will be interesting to see where the story goes from here and what type of choices that Michael B. Jordan will make in the future.