Michael B. Jordan and Creed prove they’re winners on all counts. But so is Jonathan Majors. First time director, Jordan learned how to storyboard the whole film, including every punch, emotionally and physically in this newest installment of the Creed franchise. Rocky is a distant memory. Sylvester Stallone is a producer, but does not appear in the film. But long time fans will get to hear the Rocky theme song oh so briefly at one point.
Writers Keenan Coogler, Zach Baylin with producer Ryan Coogler’s story guidance don’t stray far from the Rocky blueprint. Ryan Coogler wrote and directed the first Creed and wrote Creed II.
It starts with Adonis Creed enjoying life, both family and professionally. He owns a training gym, but is the face of a business empire. An ominous presence from his past shows up to upend his comfortable life with his loving wife, Bianca,(Tessa Thompson) and mother to the energetic, adorable hearing impaired daughter, Amara (Mila Davis-Kent). Boyhood friend Damien (Jonathan Majors) and he were like brothers, but it was Damien who ended up in jail due to a violent incident.
Seeing each other again puts them back on a perilous journey back into the ring to settle an old score. Flashbacks show what got them in trouble as teens. When they meet face-to-face, you can just see the strain on their relationship. Adonis feels guilt, while Damien is looking for revenge, wanting to destroy everything Creed has built saying “I’m comin’ for it all.”
Majors gives an intensely believable performance as the resentful man whose life was changed by the friend who let him down. Majors revealed that he saw a little of his own troubled youth in Damian’s. Major’s Dad left when he was young and he was raised by his Mom and her boyfriend who has spent years in jail. But Majors got inspiration seeing him never give up his dream, trying out for the Dallas Cowboys.
The training sequences are the meat of the movie, like it is in all of the films in this series. Both Jordan and Majors trained hard for the sculpted bodies, but in Los Angeles, not in Philly. He used off beat places, not the usual LA landmarks, except for the iconic Hollywood sign which he shows from the back. You watch them grunt and groan, and you do same, watching them pull airplanes on the tarmac, throwing punches at the cement like trunk of a huge tree, running miles uphill, training till they drop. Majors trained 3 times a day and had to keep it going post this one for a another movie he’s in, eating 6000 calories/day to keep his 6 foot muscular frame in shape.
Jordan doesn’t neglect the feelings of his character’s family and allows these relationships to be as important as the violent action sequences. Bianca is wary of what’s coming, but she knows the only way to stop it is to stop Damien. Amara wants to be tough like her Dad. She wants to throw punches, too and is as determined as she is cute.
You know from the moment Damien appears, he and Adonis are going to face each other for a big match in the ring. Creed’s mom, Mary Anne, (Phylicia Rashad) warns her son Damien of the danger that can be caused by the past. Bianca takes their daughter to sit ringside and be close to where her father might get killed. We found their reaction shots a questionable artistic choice, as Bianca tries to shield her daughter from the brutality.
Jordan put a unique directing style on the climactic fight scene. He shoots inside the ring, showing some of the most targeted blows in slow mo, but does not dwell or overuse the filmmaking technique. Cinematographer Kramer Morgenthau shot in IMAX getting right up and in there from every angle. Credit goes to editors Jessica Baclesse and Tyler Nelson for making you feel every blow. Also to Jordan for taking his vision a step further. instead of the usual closeups of punches and cuts to the crowd screaming, he removed the sound and the fury, letting the boxers perform their brutal ballet in silence surrounded by a sea of black smoke. It is very effective.
One thing that didn’t ring true was having the two of them alone for a chat at the ring right after the fight. There is no way they wouldn’t have been surrounded by thousands of fans, spectators, their teams and media after such a monumental match. It was unrealistic.
Jordan does a good job taking Adonis on a new path, further distancing himself from Stallone’s Rocky. This opens up a whole new realm of possibilities where Jordan can take this character in the next stage. It’s not easy directing yourself acting in such a physical role about an iconic hero, and Michael B. Jordan does a mighty fine job doing both. This film may not be a total knockout, but it delivers a solid punch.
Warner Bros./United Artists. 1 hour 56 minutes. PG-13
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