First of all: Believe victims, and I stand with the people Jonathan Majors has abused. I personally felt comfortable still seeing this as the allegations came out after this movie and as of yet there’s no word on if he’ll be in the series going forward. I absolutely don’t blame anyone if his presence colors the film or if they don’t see it at all.
Creed 1 was from a visionary director, a star of his generation, with a sharp clarity and finesse. Creed 2 was from a journeyman, a steady hand that kept the ship afloat, but the film lacked a distinct identity and was perhaps more Rocky than Creed. Creed 3 is from a first time director, eager to prove himself with new ideas and a daring style because he doesn’t know what he’s not ‘supposed’ to do. Jordan brings to the fire a distinct identity, wearing his influences on his sleeve, and gives the series a distinct feel of its own to build off on sans Rocky. It proves Creed an stand seperate from Rocky.
Jordan lives and breathes his character by this point. Charming and loving but wounded and raw, carrying forward the trait that’s been there from the start: his need to shield his pain and trauma and hide his feelings from those he loves most. Thompson is his equal, her plot line serving as a great parallel to Adonis and Dame alike, the film talking great care to showcase her feelings as well. And Amara is easily the most charming a child has ever been in a series, and you can’t help but imagine her carrying the story down the line. The detail given to her deafness is a wonderful touch too, and this family shines more than the Balboas.
One area Creed has relatively faltered in is its antagonists. It’s put so much time on fleshing out Adonis and his family that his rivals are secondary. Not the case here. Adonis finally has a rival equal to Rocky’s Apollo. He’s a character you understand completely, ruthless but understandably so, sympathetic but not to the extent that you root against Adonis. You understand why from his point of view he’s the hero, and in another film with slight tweaks, he would be. It showcases his physicality and menace in the ring but never loses sight of the human being, and strips that armor away to show the traumatized child at the heart. Majors’ personal misdeeds aside, Dame is a franchise highlight, with raw emotion brimming between him and Adonis.
It all culminates in the big fight, where Jordan proudly brings a level of stylization never seen in the series before, not even in IV’s goofy camp and Creed 1’s authentic vision. It takes the impassioned larger than life emotion of the anime that resonated with Jordan and proudly embraces it, but in a way that heightens the human drama rather than distract from it. It’s a riveting time, and even without Majors going forward (or at least I hope so) I think Creed is in good hands going forward. This one is a real knockout.
You know what you’re getting into at this point. It’s lowbrow Raging Bull, or UFC/WWE for people who think they’re slightly above that stuff. I liked the previous 2, but this one leans a little heavy into cheesy, melodramatic territory, which is exactly what I don’t like about the original Rocky franchise. The story, like almost every installment in this series, is very by the numbers and predictable (so much so that you kinda know the entire plot after the opening scene). There are a few interesting ideas boiling under the surface, but they don’t entirely come to fruition (the effect of Adonis’ profession on his daughter; the social distance between Adonis now and his former life). A lot of the movie is elevated by the three main performers, who are all way too good for this material. The directing is okay-ish, I think he did a good job with making the fight scenes feel brutal, but there’s nothing special about the cinematography or music. In fact, I was a little annoyed by the amount of string arrangements that are played during all the most obvious dramatic moments, which is such an obvious, cheesy call. There’s also surprisingly little tension in the first half due to our main character being on top of everything and having nowhere to progress, so it drags in places. Easily the worst of the three if you ask me, though still better than anything Stallone managed to put out.
4.5/10
Oohh... So this is a bit of a tough one.
Let's go with treating it as "not a Rocky film" given they make zero mention of Mr Robert Balboa in this.
On the plus side - some interesting cinematography/direction. A bit more emotion from the main two characters versus the previous two instalments. The villain.
On the negative side - transparent plot. Almost everything is shot as a close up on the actors and it starts to grate quite early on. Clearly a lot of vanity from MBJ. Lots of liberties taken with fight choreography, much of which doesn't work and makes it look like a video game. Zero Rocky - zero! Not a mention of his name.
As a film on its own, it's something between fair and good. Given how predictable the story is and the lack of dynamics between the dramatic scenes and the fight scenes - it's all just in your face and spelled out for you - then it isn't very original.
I have a major problem though. For reference, the way this ends feels like the end of the Creed trilogy. But the issue I have is that the Creed series was an extension of the Rocky anthology... And it doesn't end that at all well.
Let me put it this way. You want to watch all. The Rocky films. Do you stop at Creed 2? Can you ignore the existence of Creed 3? No. You watch it, of course you do... And there isn't a single mention of the man. There's a few subtle nods. But his name isn't even mentioned.
And so I'm stumped. It's average. And as an end to the Creed trilogy, I'd have to give it more time to sink in but I'm thinking it may be a little worse than 2 and a lot worse than 1.
As an end to the Rocky anthology though, it's nothing short of a disgrace.
A likeable "underdog" protagonist? Check! A charismatic, seemingly unbeatable antagonist? Check! A cool training montage? Check! A tense final showdown? Check!
The third Creed movie doesn't quite manage to maintain the quality of its predecessors, but it's still thoroughly entertaining. However, there are hardly any innovations. The classic Rocky formula is omnipresent. Every single item on the checklist is meticulously crossed out. As with most of the other parts of the series, this is hardly an issue, though. The formula just works. And even if it is a pity that Sylvester Stallone is no longer part of the franchise, this is quite helpful for the character Adonis Creed (Michael B. Jordan). At last, he stands on his own.
Jordan does a solid job as both director and leading man. His chemistry with Tessa Thompson also continues to be strong. Mila Davis-Kent as their daughter Amara perfectly complements the family dynamic. The true MVP of "Creed III," however, is Jonathan Majors. He sweeps every scene he's in with his presence. His facial expressions are simply unbeatable.
I didn't like everything, though. For example, the opening of the movie is very bumpy. It also took me quite a while to get used to the look of the film. Especially the first fight seemed visually "off" to me. However, that all improved over the course of the two-hour runtime. The later fight sequences are much stronger, even if the CGI arenas are a bit distracting. The ending then unfortunately seemed a bit anticlimactic, further hurting my overall impression. Nevertheless, I would watch more Creed films without hesitation.
Review by kokodjamboBlockedParentSpoilers2023-04-15T19:32:19Z
A sad, shallow sequel. I regret watching it. I hoped it was as good as they tried to sell it, but I knew something was off since they focused so much on the directorial debut, I don't know who wrote the story but it sure as fu*k wasn't Stallone, this has Coogler written all over it, it seems he loves taking money from agenda-pushers, not even the classics are safe anymore, he ruined Black Panther, and now he ruined Creed too, that's 2 franchises ruined by a talentless writer with no integrity. I shudder to think what career-ruining horsesh*t awaits us in the upcoming "Creed-verse", it's so transparent and dare I say dumb that I feel sorry for MBJ, he should abandon this project and stay the fu*k away from Coogler and everyone else involved in this, there's still some hope left for him, but definitely not for universe revolving around something so fundamentally shallow, so bad.
Just don't watch the movie, they skipped everything that made Rocky great, they diluted it to the point where it's not even a proper drink, it's not even water, they split the elements and Creed III can only be described as a pocket of air stuck between the writer's buttcheeks, it stinks. Many would dismiss that as hater talk, but anyone with common sense sees exactly what I see, besides being a fart of a movie, it's also an insult to Rocky and Stallone, he's just too old to care probably, so he's being supportive of MBJ's work, but in reality, we all know what's up. And yeah I said it's a fart of a movie, not a sh*t movie, that's because in order to be sh*t, it needs to actually have substance, and it really doesn't, the whole story can be told in A SINGLE SENTENCE. And that within itself is a story not worth telling. Horrible, horrible, horrible, horrible, horrible fu*king movie, please someone tell Coogler to find work somewhere where he can't so royally fu*k things up for so many people. This should not be tolerated. In any other workplace, he'd be canned and sued for damages, but somehow Hollywood is supportingly allowing people like him to ruin franchises, and this isn't the only example, we've all noticed it lately, right? These agendas aren't circumstancial, it's planned, somethin's afoot, something very bad that doesn't even have anything to do with the movie business, but rather with politics. As if I needed an extra reason to dislike this garbage of a movie.