Creed III – A Terrific Boxing Drama

When it comes to the Rocky/Creed franchise, there hasn’t been a film without Sylvester Stallone’s Rocky Balboa. His absence in the third film of the Creed franchise, Creed III, definitely makes for a big hole. Adding to the challenges is that the film also marks star Michael B. Jordan’s feature directorial debut. Fortunately for him, he was more than up to the challenge, showing plenty of vision behind the camera while delivering his best performance yet as Creed. With this third film, he gets to show a different side of Creed as he is challenged in a way that he hasn’t been before. More than simply a boxing film, there are great boxing sequences, it is also an emotional tale about confronting one’s past through a new character played by Jonathan Majors who is now 2 for 2 in terms of scene-stealing performances. He and Jordan are absolute titans on screen and their dynamic is well worth the watch alone. Despite packing so much into its sub-2-hour running time, it’s a shame that the film didn’t tap into that dynamic enough. Though the characters are strong, the character development did feel rushed in order to hit all the big moments. Considering the film as a whole, it’s a minor gripe.

Creed III sees a now-retired Adonis Creed (Jordan) at ease with his professional life, running a successful LA boxing gym and promoting the next generation of boxers, and in his personal life, living with his wife Bianca (Thompson) and their deaf daughter Amara (Mila Davis-Kent). His seemingly perfect life quickly found itself disrupted once a part of his past, a childhood friend named Damian Anderson (Majors), unexpectedly returned in his life and stirred up the past he thought he left behind after being released from an 18-year prison sentence. A promising boxer who was arguably better than Adonis back then, the latter achieved the successful career that Damian couldn’t. Now with much different circumstances, Adonis tried to help his friend get back on his feet. However, there was a lot more to that story as the film slowly revealed. A few years older than Adonis but still in great shape, all Damian wanted was a shot despite the odds because of his age and circumstances. An unlikely contender, his luck quickly changed, taking all that pain and frustration to the ring. In spite of that, Damian found some success.

Now that he found some success, Damian set his sights higher, putting Adonis in his crosshairs as he aimed to take his life away from him. That resentment went far beyond not having the chance of success like he achieved. It went all the way back to their troubled past and how Adonis abandoned Damian following his imprisonment. Rather than facing him, he essentially repressed that incident and forced himself to pretend that it never happened. With Damian back, all those feelings and memories came streaming back, arguably clouding Adonis’ judgement and trickling into his relationship with his family. Becoming a menace, it became clear that the only way to stop him is to fight him which was inevitable ever since he showed up. Already battered and bruise after a long boxing career, coming out of retirement to train for one more tough match proved to be a challenge but is one he hadn’t already faced before. The dueling training montages were as intense the drama between them.

It could be argued that Creed III was all about the fight between Adonis and Damian and lead up to it and everything else was inconsequential. Offering just a taste, the backstory between the two did feel rushed as the film would have benefitted by fleshing them out a little more. Nevertheless, the regret, resentment, and ensuing animosity did feel real. Everything else beyond them pretty didn’t matter all that much other than for advancing the Adonis/Damian storyline and that was fine. There were solid moments there between everyone else involved with the best of those being that between Adonis and his mother Mary-Anne (Phylicia Rashad) who was also a part of that past between he and Damian. In the end, it was all about the boxing and for that, the film succeeds. Jordan’s different approach gives those boxing scenes a cinematic feel where audiences can feel every moment as the anime influence makes the boxers look like larger-than-life figures in the ring.

Ultimately, the best part of Creed III was its performances which begin and end with Michael B. Jordan and Jonathan Majors and their dynamite chemistry as Adonis and Damian. As mentioned, the former gives his best performance as Creed, going deeper with the character. The pain, guilt, and regret were there as it created a noticeable cloud looming over him. As a result, his fight with Damian meant that much more and it showed, providing even more motivation. Meanwhile, Majors was a force as Damian, using a surplus of energy to mask layers of pain. Showing off his range, he did get some chances to let loose and stole scenes in the process, but there could have been more. Rounding out the impressive cast, Thompson and Rashad couldn’t help but feel restrained to an extent. The former was simply there while the latter was heartbreaking.

At the end of the day, Creed III is a terrific watch that emerges from the shadow of Sylvester Stallone’s Rocky and stands on its own. Though not perfect, the vision and performances carry it.

still courtesy of Warner Bros.

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Keith Noakes

The EIC of the coincidentally-named keithlovesmovies.com. A Canadian who prefers to get out of the cold and into the warmth of a movie theatre.