While this was continued in the 2018 sequel, Stallone is in Creed III – Rocky’s Legacy not in front of the camera for the first time. The leading actor Jordan, who was born in 1987, has also taken a seat in the director’s chair for this round – as Stallone has done in “his” films since Rocky II (1979) had also done with the exception of the fifth part. Scripted by Keenan Coogler (Ryan’s brother) and Zach Baylin. Thus, the second sequel to the Creed series another handing over of the baton, so to speak.
As far as the staging is concerned, director debutant Jordan is indeed treading new paths once again. sat Creed in the central boxing scenes, especially on realism, Jordan and his cameraman Kramer Morgenthau (who also photographed part 2) work increasingly with super slow motion in order to make every single movement and thus every tactical step comprehensible for us as the audience. In the grand finale, the visual design even goes into the surreal and thus emphasizes the backstories that both fighters inevitably bring into a match and into their respective actions in the ring: their own demons of the past always fight with them – and are often the hardest hurdle.
In terms of content, the sports drama combines an episode from Adonis’ past with the current life of the protagonist, who has ended his active career as a professional boxer. He lives with his wife Bianca (Tessa Thompson) and their young daughter Amara (Mila Davis-Kent) in a mansion in the hills above Los Angeles. He runs a boxing center; in the city he can be seen as a Ralph Lauren model on huge billboards. The story about Adonis once began as an underdog story, it is now about a person who has achieved everything and is now confronted with people and events that he eventually had to ignore on the rocky road to the top.
That’s where Damian Anderson (Jonathan Majors) comes in. As a teenager, Adonis (played by Thaddeus J. Mixson in flashbacks) and the slightly older Damian (Spence Moore II) were inseparable. Damian was well on his way to becoming a professional boxer – but then a fatal act landed him in prison for many years. When he is released, Damian visits Adonis, who feels responsible for what happened at the time and therefore has a guilty conscience. Adonis then supports his childhood friend in planning to get back into the ring – but has no idea what drives him and how much this will soon affect his own life.
Dramatically achieved Creed III not only hits. The drawing of the antagonist seems immature – and Adonis’ actions are not plausible in every phase of the plot. In addition, some of the sub-plots, such as the one about Adonis’ stepmother Mary-Anne (Phylicia Rashad), have turned out to be too cliché to be really convincing. On the other hand, what sets the film apart from the skilfully staged fights is the detailed and careful depiction of the everyday life of Adonis and his family. How Adonis and Bianca discuss the upbringing of their deaf daughter, how Adonis in a full-body frog costume has a cup of tea with Amara by the pool or how the couple tries to manage each other’s career decisions – that is no less interesting than the question of who and how when wins the final battle. On the other hand, Jordan, Thompson and, last but not least, Majors deliver intensive performances that bring us closer to their characters even in moments that are rather weak in terms of narrative.
