Creed II

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.