Film Review: Creed III

 

Sexuality/Nudity Acceptable

Violence Acceptable
Vulgarity Mature

Anti-Catholic Philosophy Acceptable

A hero is only as good as his villain.

This is a standard writing principle that helps explain why Creed III is the best of the Creed movies.

The film focuses on Adonis Creed (Michael B. Jordan), reaching the pinnacle of the sporting world.  He is a champion who ends his career on a high note, he has a talented and loving wife Bianca (Tessa Thompson), and a wonderful young daughter Amara (Mila Davis-Kent).  They live in luxury while Adonis uses his days to continue to shape the sport and train the next generation of champions.  But then his old friend Damian Anderson (Jonathan Majors) comes back into his life.  As teens, Adonis helped Damian train as a boxer, until Damian was sentenced to prison.  But now, Damian has just been released after two decades, where he had no contacted from Adonis.  Cagey and anxious, Damian begs Adonis to help him get a shot a the title.  Adonis is apprehensive because of Damian's age and inexperience, but he knows how much he owes him from their time as youths.  This sets the two men on a course that eventually puts them at odds with each other in the ring.

What makes this movie work even better than the previous Creed movies is that this antagonist really matters.  The previous two villains were almost blank slates, flat obstacles to overcome.  But Damian is different.  As you learn why Damian goes to jail and how Adonis reacted, you cannot help but pity Damian as Adonis does.  But all the pain and rage comes out in disturbing ways and you are torn by the conflict that Adonis feels:  what do you do when someone you love and someone you owe starts crossing a line?  One of the great things that the first two Rocky movies did was that Apollo Creed had a rich character development so that you understood who he was and why he did the things he did.  Even when you rooted for Rocky, you didn't hate Apollo.  Damian has the edge of Clubber Lang, but the character depth of Apollo.

I cannot say enough good things about Majors.  Jordan already brings a ton of charisma to the screen, so it takes some doing to outshine him, but Majors does.  Everything he does on screen draws you in so that you can't take your eyes off of him.  He has this practiced smile that seems sweet, but feels forced.  He is always moving and looking around like someone with PTSD.  His physicality is phenomenal, reminding me of a young Mike Tyson.  And when Damian's mask does fall, you still can't help but understand him.  That is because Majors infuses him with so much humanity.  That isn't to take anything away from Jordan.  This movie shows how success can make you soft and how he rediscovers his inner strength.  Jordan doesn't try to out muscle Majors.  Instead, he shows all the layers of a man who has settled into domestic life.  Damian keeps accusing Adonis of going soft.  But there is something mature about a man who grows into a husband and father that Damian misses.  It reminds me of how some Star Wars fans think that Han Solo became lesser from Empire Strikes Back to Return of the Jedi because he becomes more domesticated.  But I always saw that as Han growing instead of lessening as a character.

The other performances are good.  Thompson is probably at the best I've seen her here.  She has no cynicism and plays the part of the supporting wife without feeling like she is simply echoing her husbands feelings.  Davis-Kent is incredibly cute and her scenes with Jordan are heart-warming.  The rest of the supporting cast doesn't have much to do, but they also don't use that time to match up to these performances.  That is one of the few things that stops this movie from bumping up a level.  IF they had taken time to really develop the side characters and if the actors there gave better performances, this movie could be one of the all-time greats.  Conspicuously missing is Sylvester Stallone as Rocky, who is only briefly mentioned.  And while his absence is felt, it does not deter too greatly from the story.

This also Jordan's debut as a director, which bodes well for him.  The movie is slick and shot well, keeping the plot moving at a tight pace.  I especially like the way he filmed the fight scenes.  The boxing matches have a completely different flavor than anything in the Rocky/Creed franchise thus far.  And that is good thing.  He uses some very creative and interesting visual flourishes to make the final match between Adonis and Damian something that is more personal than it is a spectacle.

I especially like the themes that this movie deals.  Adonis abandoned his best friend for his new life.  He has to deal with that guilt while at the same time understanding that he was just a kid at the time.  The movie dives deeply into the questions of guilt, forgiveness, envy, and friendship.  And one of the things I liked about it too was that it left a number of its questions unanswered.  Is Adonis a sell out?  While he is a noble family man, has he forgotten his roots and his community?  You as the audience get to answer that.  It is a question that we as Christians ask ourselves all the time as we encounter success.  And the movie understands the power of repentance and forgiveness.

This is also an intensely masculine film.  Adonis and Damian are powerhouses of manly energy.  And while the movie does show the flaws of this stoic lifestyle, as Adonis has trouble talking about his feelings to his wife.  But ultimately it acknowledges that there are certain ways that men deal with their problems, which is why Adonis has to get back into the ring.  Neither man is feminized, but both come barreling at each other, full steam ahead.

The could easily end the Creed movies here and it go out on a high-note.  But something tells me with the success of this film, we will see Adonis in the ring once again.