Film Review - Creed

All in all it is a very suitable successor to the Rocky franchise. 

Rocky himself is in. The training montage is in. The soundtrack is in.  The boxing plays a large part but the story is still dominated by the characters rather than their circumstances. The references back to previous films are tastefully done rather than being shoved in your face. Anything that makes a Rocky film is in there somewhere. 

Michael B Jordan is fairly believable as the pushy kid trying to make his own way in the world. His girlfriend is unfortunately styled a bit too much like Denise Huxtable and her role is limited but she holds her place. And most of the supporting cast do efficient jobs. Tony Bellew is the only one who is a bit out of place. He always seems to be trying to act. Even playing himself, right down to his own football club fandom doesn't really help. 

But none of them really matter, they are all window dressing for Stallone himself. He is the stand-out of this entire movie. It is a fantastic reminder that 40 years ago, before the excessive action violence of the 80s got hold of him, he could actually act. And putting him back in a character that was his own original creation gives him freedom to inhabit the role in a way that probably isn't available to anyone else in the Hollywood machine. 

His nomination for an Oscar was absolutely deserved, his failure to win was a shock to me. I can understand him losing out to Network for both his Best Actor and Best Writer nominations in 1976, although Rocky then taking Best Film over Network shows that the Academy were stuck somewhere in trying to reward both films. I have yet to see Rylance's Bridge of Spies Best Supporting Actor performance but if it was truly better than this work from Stallone then I am in for a treat.

And they have been quite smart about how they have set up for future movies. If Stallone wants to get out they can let the cancer or the chemotherapy beat him and still be consistent with the way they have previously treated Adrian and Paulie. If he wants to stay in they can size his part to suit, anything from a single sick bed scene to the same major supporting role that he plays here. 

I want to give this 10 out of 10. Bellew almost costs it that score on his own, but it is some of the jive talk between Creed and his girlfriend that just seemed too forced and was the final nudge to cut a point off.

9 out of 10.