Every one of the Rocky films has been at least watchable.
That’s not to say they’ve all been good. In fact, what made some of the sequels
so entertaining was leaning in to the ridiculousness. This is certainly the
case with Rocky IV, the multiple-montaged
piece of uber-patriotic late Cold War cheese.
Creed II, which follows up on the story of IV, takes the opposite approach.
In the movie, it’s revealed that
since the last film, Adonis Creed (Michael B. Jordan) has become the World
Heavyweight Champion. Meanwhile, Russian ex-boxer Ivan Drago (Dolph Lundgren),
who killed Creed’s father in the ring before being defeated by Rocky (Sylvester
Stallone) in IV, resurfaces with a
ferocious son (Florian Munteanu) who challenges Creed to a fight. The bout goes
badly for Creed, but this being a Rocky
movie, it’s of course nothing that a few montages and clichés about having heart and
so on can’t cure before the rematch.
It’s just as cornball as any of
the series’ middle sequels. Yet the film takes things so seriously. The
training montages don’t get the audience pumped so much as instill a sense of
dread. The famous theme is all but absent, in its place a weepy piano score or
foreboding hip hop. Stallone throws in some of the lovable lunkhead humor that’s
always served the series well, but here it only punctuates the grimness like bits
of levity at a funeral. Even the moments meant to be touching and heartwarming
feel somber.
There are moments of undeniable loving
chemistry between Jordan and Tessa Thompson as Creed’s musician partner. However,
she mostly seems like less of a full character than before, with little in the
way of her own arc. Same goes for Phylicia Rashad as his mother and even
Stallone, who with the exception of a single scene only appears to spout wise old mentor clichés.
As for Jordan on his own, he’s ferocious in the ring and in training, but outside
of either feels too detached. He’s clearly not just going through the motions
in the role (like everyone clearly was in a couple of the later sequels), but
he just doesn’t connect with the viewer, so a lot of scenes meant to be emotional seem so distant and uninvolving.
Oddly, the most emotional and compelling character moments belong to the Dragos. In a few brief asides, we
get to see their desperate straits and how it motivates them in the fight game.
And frankly, their motivation is a lot more convincing than that of the
protagonist. It’s strong work from Lundgren and Munteanu, so much so that it’s
arguably a drawback because here lies the more interesting and involving story,
and nearly causes the audience to empathize more with the nominal villains.
I’ve always said that it’s
impossible to not enjoy a Rocky movie,
even the bad ones. Creed II is not a
bad movie, but it comes closest to disproving that. It’s well made, sometimes
touching, sometimes thrilling (the fights aren’t nearly as masterful as those in the
first Creed, but are still exciting).
Overall, though, it’s not a lot of fun.
