Dustin: 4 of 5 stars Nick: 4 of 5 stars Average: 4 of 5 stars (Live canary)
Dustin: Creed is a movie about a privileged millennial who forgoes a promising career in banking to follow his dream. He believes he is entitled to a shot at light heavyweight champion of the world not for his previous accomplishments (he only had one previous fight in the division), but because of who he is. Even though he loses, he is given a metaphorical participation trophy when the entire crowd chants his name and the reporters center the story on him.
Nick?
Nick: Creed gave me an opinion I never thought I’d have: Sylvester Stallone is a great movie actor! Every scene with him was the heart of the film. Either making us laugh with his quick quips or even cry with his tearful sentiments of his not-forgotten past. This movie is way better than anyone would have ever thought.
Dustin: Stallone did very well with the part, very much coming off as an older version of the character in the 1976 original (I haven’t seen any of the sequels). He seemed very sure of himself in the role and his performance was superb. This was a good movie, in some ways rivaling the original, even though it had enough of the same beats to almost feel like a remake.
Dustin: Stallone did very well with the part, very much coming off as an older version of the character in the 1976 original (I haven’t seen any of the sequels). He seemed very sure of himself in the role and his performance was superb. This was a good movie, in some ways rivaling the original, even though it had enough of the same beats to almost feel like a remake.
Nick: I have seen all of the Rocky films (Rocky V being in my list of worst films ever made), and Creed is certainly close to being as good as the original. The director/writer Ryan Coogler has a lot to do with that. There are an astounding number of shots that resonated with me. Including the one that I see many people are writing about, which is the one-shot (means no edits) take of Creed boxing his first real opponent in the ring. All of the technical aspects of the film are great, and the homages of the Rocky films are placed nice and neatly to point where it doesn’t feel like it’s bogged down with the weight of its past--much like Adonis Creed himself. The one part I could have done without was the running sequence with the boys riding past on their crotch rockets. Many other critics seemed to like this sequence, I personally felt like it was trying too hard. It was something that worked in the original Rocky, but that kind of corniness doesn’t work as well today.
Dustin: I liked that sequence. Adonis prancing around while the boys circled triumphantly around him was a little over-the-top, but I liked that the montage was cut this time with Rocky going through chemotherapy. It created an ironic and deep parallel with the similar sequence in the first film.
Nick: I guess I should stipulate that it was once the kids started circling him that I begun to roll my eyes and everything prior was ruined. It could also be that it was very quiet scene and we had one hell of a rowdy audience. It was tough for me. I felt like the film wanted to be serious and the cackling and the screaming of “Get up, bitch!” and “You got knocked the fuck out!” made it hard for me to take it in a serious manner. It felt as if I was watching Mystery Science 3000: The Uneducated Edition. A second viewing is something I look forward to!
Dustin: I liked that sequence. Adonis prancing around while the boys circled triumphantly around him was a little over-the-top, but I liked that the montage was cut this time with Rocky going through chemotherapy. It created an ironic and deep parallel with the similar sequence in the first film.
Nick: I guess I should stipulate that it was once the kids started circling him that I begun to roll my eyes and everything prior was ruined. It could also be that it was very quiet scene and we had one hell of a rowdy audience. It was tough for me. I felt like the film wanted to be serious and the cackling and the screaming of “Get up, bitch!” and “You got knocked the fuck out!” made it hard for me to take it in a serious manner. It felt as if I was watching Mystery Science 3000: The Uneducated Edition. A second viewing is something I look forward to!
Dustin: I liked when one woman behind us, during the film’s suspenseful final fight, said to her friend reassuringly, “Of course he’s gonna win. It’s a Rocky film!” She must not have seen the first film where Rocky loses (spoiler from 1976!).
I must commend Ryan Coogler’s direction on this film, as well as the writing. It worked both as a stand-alone film and as a Rocky sequel. It established a stylistic voice of its own while also fitting into the series. It is an appropriate step forward after Coogler and Jordan’s previous collaboration, the excellent Fruitvale Station. So many directors today are handed the keys to a huge, multimillion dollar action franchise after a small-scale indie project, in which they’re set-up for failure and their careers are ruined (see Fantastic Four). This was also a welcome return to form for Jordan after a misguided step into the superhero world with Fantastic Four (not that a young actor in his shoes has much of a choice, I can’t blame him if it seemed like the opportunity of a lifetime at the time).
Nick: Jordan was following another director into a bigger film like he did with Coogler and Creed. Fantastic Four was made by Josh Trask, who Jordan had worked with in his breakout role in Chronicle.
Dustin: While I liked this movie overall, there were some elements that fell flat for me. I never really understood Adonis’s motivation for becoming a boxer. He never knew his father, but he wanted to step out of his father’s shadow and make it on his own, even though he never really lived in his father’s shadow, no one knew he was Apollo Creed’s son, and no one expected him to become a great boxer.
Nick: The one thing the film couldn’t emulate from the original Rocky was the great love story between the titular hero and ADRIAN!!!!!. While I love Tessa Thompson as an actress, and she does a great job here, her character and Creed lack the same dynamism as the former. That’s fine and all, but what I remember most from the original Rocky were the cute dates between two very shy and awkward people. It doesn’t have the same punch when the love interest is basically in the same boat as the main character. She is an up-and-coming musician, who is slowing going deaf, who has her first big gig a fortnight away. Their story is fine, but not memorable. It is the one aspect of the film that makes it a slightly lesser version of the original Rocky.
Nick: Jordan was following another director into a bigger film like he did with Coogler and Creed. Fantastic Four was made by Josh Trask, who Jordan had worked with in his breakout role in Chronicle.
Dustin: While I liked this movie overall, there were some elements that fell flat for me. I never really understood Adonis’s motivation for becoming a boxer. He never knew his father, but he wanted to step out of his father’s shadow and make it on his own, even though he never really lived in his father’s shadow, no one knew he was Apollo Creed’s son, and no one expected him to become a great boxer.
Nick: The one thing the film couldn’t emulate from the original Rocky was the great love story between the titular hero and ADRIAN!!!!!. While I love Tessa Thompson as an actress, and she does a great job here, her character and Creed lack the same dynamism as the former. That’s fine and all, but what I remember most from the original Rocky were the cute dates between two very shy and awkward people. It doesn’t have the same punch when the love interest is basically in the same boat as the main character. She is an up-and-coming musician, who is slowing going deaf, who has her first big gig a fortnight away. Their story is fine, but not memorable. It is the one aspect of the film that makes it a slightly lesser version of the original Rocky.
Dustin: That romantic subplot was the other element that didn’t work for me. It seemed perfunctory, although it was still better than the one in Whiplash, another otherwise great movie.
Creed is about as good of a Rocky sequel/spin off as one could hope for. It’s stylish and almost as satisfying as Stallone’s original.
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