Creed III

Yes, exactly. Without Rocky, without Sylvester Stallone, it tastes like a burger without meat. Wiping out Rocky means wiping out all the past, and all the experiences that viewers lived. There was always a balance between strength and weakness in Rocky movies. They carried it very well in Creed and Creed II. But this movie lacks balance I think.

Michael B. Jordan announced that he wants to shoot a lot of Creed movies and wants to turn them into a cinematic universe. But how do you think you can do it without Rocky in it? I mean Sylvester Stallone was the backbone of that series. People went to watch Creed because of this was the continuation of Rocky films. They were seen by viewers like Rocky 7 and Rocky 8.

Yeah, it tastes like a vegan burger. But still eatable if you are hungry.

A strong entry into Rocky franchise that encapsulates the boxing world both in and outside of the ring.

Adonis Creed is a retired boxer working as a promoter. Creed III explores his new life, post retirement and what it means for him and his family. An old 'brother like' friend from Creed's past, Damian Anderson played by Jonathon Majors, comes back into his life which sets off a series of events. We get to witness Creed's post boxing story whilst also witnessing Damien's much delayed boxing story.

The film was built up really well especially in the first half where it takes its time to introduce us to the characters, plot and theme of the movie. Despite being two hours long, it's clear that a lot of the movie got chopped as the second half was rushed which is a shame as the film could have given us so much more prior to the Main Event.

Johnathan Majors was fantastic. His character had menace, pain and emotion. What's great is that the relationship between Creed and Anderson was morally grey so you could empathise with both sides of the story which make the movie more heartfelt. Michael B Jordon was solid in his role as Creed as per usual and the supporting casts of actors and boxing personalities both new and old were a lot of fun.

The choreography which was influenced by MBJ's love of anime, was good despite some of the usual big screen over exaggeration and the soundtrack was fire opening up with The Watcher from from Dr Dre's 2001! Those hoping to see Rocky on screen shouldn't hold their breathe.

After watching Creed 3, it became clear to me that the makers of this film recycled WAY too much Rocky material without actually involving Rocky at all and simultaneously claiming to stand on its own.

The retired protagonist takes a new-comer under his wing and ends up having to fight him in the finale. Seems familiar, right? That's entirely Rocky 5.

At one point, Adonis says "it ain't about how hard you hit..."... Yup, Rocky 6 (Rocky Balboa)

Adonis training for the fight by running up the hill and yelling Damien's name as he reaches the top. Yup, Rocky did that in Russia in Rocky 4.

Adonis' former rival (Drago's son) is now helping to train him for his next fight. Yup, that's Rocky 3.

A loved one of the protagonist (Adonis' mom) has to die in order to build emotional weight to the character's journey... Yup, that's Rocky 3, 4, & Rocky Balboa.

I can forgive a minimal amount of rehashing to a certain extent because after all, Creed is a spin-off franchise of Rocky. But they weren't very original with this 3rd installment.

The 'Creed' boxing actioner melodrama series has none of the magic of the early 'Rocky' films that it span off from - with "Creed III" a typical example. Titular champ Michael B Jordan (charismaless - also on his directorial debut here) retires to a dream LA home with pop star wife Tessa Thompson, but then moody childhood pal Jonathan Majors (good - but no Mr T) re-emerges after 18yrs in jail. Via Keenan Coogler & Zach Baylin's hole-filled, cartoonish, short-cutting writing Majors becomes Jordan's nemesis, for whom he must return to the ring, to fight in a showdown finale. As lamely cheesie as it sounds it still has some Hollywood polish, but 'Creed' is definitely no 'Rocky'.

The first half of Creed III was decent and the initial premise of a childhood friend opened up some interesting possibilities for the story. But it sadly wasn't developed well enough and the movie ends up feeling somewhat of a wasted opportunity. By the end, it has the feeling of one of those dime-a-dozen fighting movies that didn't quite hit the mark in any memorable way.

The actors all did a good job however, and I didn't really notice that Rocky wasn't around. It was almost refreshing to see Creed and the other characters take their first independent steps, without the guiding hand or strong presence of Stallone. Things felt promising early on in the movie and it was probably the good acting which prevented the movie from being a complete flop.

Around the half way point unfortunately cracks started to appear in the story. The childhood friend angle just wasn't used to best effect, in a convincing way. Things just descend into a series of somewhat unrealistic and almost cliched interactions between the main characters. The story sort of dwindles into mediocrity.

Overall still reasonably entertaining. Good acting, decent directing/cinematography. Fight scenes not bad. Ultimately a weak screenplay turned what could have been a good Creed movie into the least impressive one so far in the franchise.