Creed II

image source

Adonis Creed (played by Michael B. Jordan) is challenged by Viktor Drago (played by Florian Munteanu). Adonis feels as though he needs to take the match due to the legacy that follows the idea of “Creed vs. Drago.” Throughout all of this, he finds out that his fiancee Bianca (played by Tessa Thompson) is pregnant. As much as Adonis wants to take the fight, Rocky (played by Sylvester Stallone) has reservations. Over the past couple of years, I have felt that Michael B. Jordan has sort of cemented himself as one this decade’s defining actors, and he truly is excellent in this film. I also have to compliment this film’s writing and directing. I wasn’t sure what to expect when I found out that Ryan Cooler wasn’t coming back to direct this film. But, Steven Caple, Jr. did a fantastic job with this movie. The film was co-written by Sylvester Stallone and Juel Taylor. This movie can feel a touch familiar at times, but the more the movie went on, the more I didn’t really care. Part of the reason is that I feel as though this movie does what a good sequel should do. The characters progress, and are actually given new situations. I feel that Tessa Thompson, in particular, feels a little more fleshed out. In this film, she is pregnant with hers and Adonis’s baby. She has her own fear that their child will be born deaf (a fear that is all too real for many people) because she is deaf herself. As a character, Viktor Drago could have easily been a one-note cartoon, something akin to what Ivan (played by Dolph Lundgren) was in Rocky IV. But, you actually get to see a little bit of how similar and how different Adonis and Viktor are. You see that they both have expectations thrust on them, both by themselves and by others. If this movie is about anything, it’s about the relationships between fathers and sons. You see how Adonis is, in his own way, still somewhat in his father’s way. You get a little bit about how Rocky is estranged from his own son. Overall, Creed II may not be quite as good as the first film (it is very hard to capture that lightning in a bottle feeling twice in a row), but it is still a very good sequel that deserves to be seen.  

9 / 10