Creed III Review: Jordan and Majors Pack A Solid and Entertaining Punch
Credit: MGM
Ken Jones, OnScreen Blog Chief Film Critic
The Creed franchise has been a successful extension of the Rocky franchise. It’s not an original Hollywood concept to use established IP to push and create new a market for new IP, but the Creed films have maybe been the most successful critically and financially. Though it is the third in the series, Creed III is a film of first; the first film in the franchise with no Sylvester Stallone as Rocky Balboa and it is also the directorial debut of the film’s star, Michael B. Jordan.
Adonis Creed (Jordan), is living the good life in LA, having retired going out on top as one of the boxing greats. He has transitioned to the promotional part of the sport of boxing and running a gym with his former trainer, Little Duke (Wood Harris). In his down time, he is enjoying the company of his family; his music producing wife Bianca (Tessa Thompson), their daughter Amara (Mila Davis-Kent), and his adopted mother Mary Anne (Phylicia Rashad).
Adonis’ life is thrown into upheaval with the arrival of a childhood friend who just got out of prison, Damien (Jonathan Majors). His shared past with Dame brings back old memories that Donnie had buried deep, and, despite Donnie’s best efforts to help him, sets them on a collision course to eventually pull Donnie out of retirement and have them square off in the ring.
Initial thoughts on making Creed III were to have Donnie square off against the son of Clubber Lang, the villain of Rocky III. Personally, I’m glad they went in a different direction because they already leaned on legacy offspring with Drago’s son in Creed II. Instead, Damien is actually a Rocky Balboa figure, a nobody getting the opportunity of a lifetime, only as the antagonist of the story instead of the protagonist, which is an interesting twist.
Majors is an outstanding actor, a compelling onscreen presence. Diamond Dame, as his character likes to be called, embodies unrefined ferocity in the ring. It is an intensity forged from skill but also from being locked up and, in his eyes, seeing someone like Donnie have the career and life that he should have had if things hadn’t turned out differently.
As a fighter who is older than Donnie with a limited shelf life to make some earnings and get opportunity in the boxing business, his impatience, even in the face of Donnie trying to give him reasonable opportunities and even as Damien alienates others around Donnie, is understandable.
His manipulation of circumstances is pretty far-fetched though, as are the plot machinations that go into putting the title on his waist and pulling Donnie out of retirement. The character arc for Damien is telegraphing where the punch is coming from a mile away, and it is a character that really should not work, but Majors makes it work.
Damien also serves as a connection back to Donnie’s childhood and allows the story to give an emotional investment in the continuing story of Adonis Creed. It does not completely challenge the narrative or rewrite everything we have been given in previous movies, but it does shade in more backstory and how one moment involving the two of them shaped their futures, for better and for worse.
It also serves the domestic story outside the ring with his family and Donnie learning how to communicate rather than the default position of letting his hands do the talking for him. This informs his relationship to both Bianca, in learning to open up to her instead of burying his trauma, and Amara, who struggles with how to respond properly to school bullies and wanting to emulate her famous father.
One of the biggest strengths of the movie is the actual fighting in the boxing matches, of which there are three: one with Creed getting a rematch against Conlan from the original Creed, a middle fight between Damien and Donnie’s protégé, world champion Felix Chavez (professional boxer José Benavidez Jr.), and then the final confrontation between Adonis and Damien.
The camerawork during these fights is really well done, with the camera swirling deftly around the action in the ring. Also, the last fight, which takes place at Dodger Stadium, has a nice touch to it, where the crowd eventually disappears and it is just the two former friends turned sworn enemies fighting one another and looking across the ring to see their teenage selves looking back.
Sylvester Stallone’s absence is awkward but not crippling to film. While it is a shame that it appears that studio politics sidelined him, the show must go on. Creed III is a quality continuation of the story of Adonis Creed. The first film was about climbing the mountain for Adonis to prove that he belonged. The second film was about maintaining and sustaining greatness and creating a legacy.
This film is about defending that legacy when someone threatens to tear it down. It is also a solid directorial debut for Michael B. Jordan, the film’s star. The door is open for another chapter, too, and based on Creed III, I would not be upset with a Creed IV in a few years.
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars