★★★
Every boxing movie, with the exception of Raging Bull, is roughly the same. Some are better, some are Southpaw.The new installation in the Rocky franchise, Creed, is doubtlessly better than the latter, but offers little more than expected.
Adonis Johnson (Michael B. Jordan) is a puncher of men. He’s been punching his whole life, even when he had small fists. But he wants to be the best, like his estranged (and dead) father, world champion punchman Apollo Creed, the punchin’est puncher to ever punch. With the help of legendary punchist Rocky Balboa (Sylvester Stallone), can Adonis become the punchest of them all?
Of course he can. Traditionally, we root for the underdogs in these stories, men for whom boxing is the only way out of the cycle of poverty and rage. Creed seems at first like he’s our man: we meet him in juvie, constantly fighting. He’s a kid whose loss of his parents leaves him hopeless, angry and alone.
But then he’s collected by his soon-to-be stepmother, Mary Anne (Phylicia Rashad), whisked away to Apollo’s mansion, and within minutes he’s shacked up with a comfy finance job and a sports car. He’s satisfied fiscally, but not fistily.
It’s an opportunity to explore an interesting spin on the genre, but no. Instead we’re meant to empathise with him despite the golden safety net he has whenever he gives up. Even his mentor’s lessons are ultimately selfish – “You’re doing this for you, no-one else.”
These are the ‘heroes’ we are now told we love: no longer the Rockys fighting their way up from the bottom, but bored one-percenters with daddy issues.
Ryan Coogler’s scripting and directing efforts here smack of fresh takes on old material quickly stifled in favour of Save The Cat! basics. Even Adonis’ love interest – musician Bianca (Tessa Thompson) – has lines about “not just existing to motivate” Adonis, but then ends up serving exactly that purpose in the plot.
There’s a lot of talk about building one’s own legacy – it’s why Adonis won’t use his father’s name – but there are so many indicators of how great the Rocky films were that one wonders if Coogler should have taken his own advice.
The power of that history is manifest in Stallone, one of Creed’s greatest assets. He single-handedly carries the weight of the franchise and gives us a deeper, more vulnerable look at the man he’s played for 40 years. Dare I say it, this may be the best he’s been in that time.
It coulda been a contender, but Creed seems happy to settle for a life less legendary.
Creedopens in cinemas on Thursday November 26.
