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CREED II
Director: Steven Caple Jr. Cast: Michael B. Jordan, Sylvester Stallone, Tessa Thompson, Dolph Lundgren, Wood Harris, Phylicia Rashad, Russell Hornsby, Florian "Big Nasty" Munteanu, Milo Ventimiglia, Brigitte Nielsen, Andre Ward MPAA
Rating: Running Time: 2:10 Release Date: 11/21/18 |
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Review by Mark Dujsik | November 20, 2018 Watching Creed II, we're reminded how many things Creed did and how well it did them. The original film served as a spin-off of the Rocky series and a sequel within it, giving us a new character and adding new layers to an iconic one. It imbued a real sense of pathos to events of the previous sequels (even though the movies themselves might not have deserved them on their own), while also telling an emotionally weighty story about fathers and sons, as well as the desire to live up to a legacy and the fear of achieving it or failing to do so. Now, with this sequel, it feels as if the first film in this new series also was laying the groundwork for what would come in the story of boxer Adonis Johnson (Michael B. Jordan). He professionally goes by the surname Creed, after his heavyweight boxer father, who died in the ring before Adonis had a chance to meet him. The story, which involves Adonis struggling with and eventually accepting the repeated challenges of the son of the man who killed his dad, seems inevitable, with or without the events of the previous film. It's the general tone and focus on these characters, though, that's the first film's legacy here. If Creed, on a meta level, was about living up to the legend of its predecessors, the sequel is about trying to live up to the promise of its immediate forebear. At first, it's the story of a son trying to do what his father couldn't and, in an indirect way, to avenge a death that seems without purpose. That's what we expect of this story, especially when we're re-introduced to Ivan Drago (Dolph Lundgren), the Russian boxer who pummeled Apollo Creed to death in the fourth movie of this franchise, only to be humiliated in his homeland by Rocky Balboa (Sylvester Stallone), Apollo's friend/rival and Adonis' trainer/friend/surrogate uncle. Ivan has an adult son now, named Viktor (Florian "Big Nasty" Munteanu) and carrying his own weight of legacy on his broad shoulders. The two sons have to fight, and Adonis knows it, even saying that it's what the public expects during a TV interview before the big match. What's unexpected is how quickly that fight arrives within the plot of the film. The screenplay by Stallone and Juel Taylor isn't trying to rush the story along. It's closer to an attempt to get the inevitable out of the way, so that the film can do other, more important things. There's some quick catch-up and development for the characters before that bout. Adonis wins the title of heavyweight champion, proposes to his long-term girlfriend Bianca (Tessa Thompson), and, when his adoptive mother and Apollo's widow Mary Anne (Phylicia Rashad) divines that Bianca is pregnant, seems ready to start a family. Rocky, meanwhile, wants to contact his own son, but the years since they last spoke seem like an impossible-to-cross gap for him. Ivan and Viktor come calling, though, looking to reclaim the former glory of the Drago name after the father's defeat three decades ago. The two aren't simplistic villains here. Their story continues to expand upon what seems to be this series' signature theme—that of fathers and sons—as Ivan pushes Viktor with the sort of carelessness that only comes from wounded pride. There's a lot of pride going around here. Rocky's own, perhaps, has been broken, especially when looking at the son of the man whom he could have saved 30-some years ago, simply by throwing a towel into the ring. Adonis sees Viktor's challenge as an assault on his own pride and that of his family name. The formulaic version of this story likely would have given us the long build-up to the match between Adonis and Viktor, but Stallone and Taylor move past the fight—at least a first one—to examine how a physically and psychologically broken Adonis deals with apparent and certain defeat. He's his father's son. There's no changing that fact, but from the previous film, we know that it's as much a burden as a sense of pride for him. Here, Adonis has to determine what it means to be his own man, not simply the son of a famous, dead boxer. The whole of the film, directed by Steven Caple Jr., is a subtle progression away from the past. There are elements of the previous movies that cannot be escaped, but Stallone and Taylor clearly are trying to prepare these characters—and us, if another sequel comes to pass—for a future in which they will no longer hold on to what has happened before their time. Rocky becomes a less prominent figure, disappearing into the background and re-appearing only when Adonis needs to push him away out of pride—or requires a gentle push in the right direction. Win or lose, the Dragos eventually will have to figure out how to be a father and son or cave into the pressure of a country that abandoned them. The journey itself, then, is a little shaky, since this particular story of anger and revenge is a requirement for Adonis, whether he wants it or not. With this required bit of repeating and trying to redress history, though, we see some new sides and develop a better understanding of Adonis, once again played with a refined balance of confidence and vulnerability by Jordan. If this series does continue, it will, at some point, become exclusively Adonis' story, and Creed II does a fine job setting up that foundation. Copyright © 2018 by Mark Dujsik. All rights reserved. |
Buy Related Products Buy the Soundtrack (Digital Download) Buy the Score (Digital Download)
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(for sports action violence, language, and a scene of sensuality)
