‘Creed II’ Review: Even the Russians will be cheering for Creed II
On paper, the sequel to Creed, which is essentially a sequel to Rocky IV, looks like a film doomed to succumb to the same Cold War camp that the first film did. The premise is just a bit too silly to take seriously when explained out loud, and yet, what director Steven Caple Jr. has done with Creed II is retain the same tear-jerking heart and exhilarating scrappiness of Ryan Coogler’s first Creed film, while still showing respect to an audience that may have a soft spot in their memories for Rocky IV. People just like me.
You heard that right.
I fucking love Rocky IV. Why? Not because it’s some character-driven, auteur piece of sports cinema like the original Rocky, but because it’s such an unabashed departure from that, birthed in the music video-crazed MTV era from the loins of the ongoing Cold War between the United States and Russia. Rocky has a robot servant! Brigitte Nielsen and Dolph Lundgren’s high-topped platinum hair matched! It has the best training montage in the history of cinema! Drago is running in a fancy Russian gym. Rocky is chopping wood. Drago is doing some Olympic -style lifting. Rocky is lifting a wooden wagon of his wife and friends. Drago is running up a ridiculous incline on a treadmill. Rocky is climbing a GODDAMN MOUNTAIN. It’s the montage to end all montages. And of course, it has our beloved, egomaniac good guy, Apollo Creed, dying at the hands of Ivan Drago in an exhibition fight, which is what stimulates the core of the drama in Creed II.
Is Rocky IV cheesy as hell? Yes. Still awesome? Also, yes.
The film finds us a few years after the end of 2015’s Creed, where Adonis Creed (Michael B. Jordan) is now heavyweight champion of the world, and still completely in love with hearing-impaired musician, Bianca (Tessa Thompson). Rocky Balboa (Sylvester Stallone, who shares screenwriting credit with Juel Taylor), is still by his side as both boxing coach and stand-in father figure in light of Apollo Creed’s absence. As Adonis rises to stardom in Philadelphia, Ivan Drago (Dolph Lundgren) has been training his own scowling beast of a son, Viktor Drago (Florian Munteanu), and thinks this is his opportunity to exact revenge against Rocky who defeated Drago in the ring back in 1985, resulting in Ivan Drago losing everything – from his wife to general respect in his country for failing to bring home the heavyweight belt. When posed with the opportunity for a match between the two by a sleezy boxing promoter (Russell Hornsby) looking to cash in on the historic and symbolic drama of the whole affair, Adonis can’t help but see it as an opportunity to avenge his father, and retain his pride. As Adonis and Bianca evolve in their relationship, the pervading question throughout the film becomes “What are you really fighting for?” .
(It can’t be ignored that Creed II, like Rocky IV, is actually pretty darn timely since we are currently in the middle of a digital Cold War of sorts with Russia, where false information has been weaponized in a game of global one-upmanship. Just sayin’.)
What Steven Caple Jr. gets so right with Creed II is that he doesn’t lose the spirit and tone of the original Creed film; he maintains the grit and modesty of the Philadelphia landscape, and doesn’t dress the scenery too much to match Adonis’ apparent success. He also manages to keep the performances authentic and grounded, and ever-so-slightly evolved from where we saw them in the previous film. Michael B. Jordan’s Creed is more confident here, but he’s also still a lost little boy – not knowing how to deal with the idea of avenging his father and whether it’s worth the fight against this towering Russian mountain of bulbous muscle who he actually has no direct beef with. Sylvester Stallone turns in yet another warm and heartbreaking performance as the wisened and soft-hearted Rocky, who now has to deal with the trauma of remembering the role he played in Apollo’s death, and whether he can save Apollo’s son from the same fate. Like the previous film, Stallone turns in some of his best work ever here, and the father/son chemistry he shares with Michael B. Jordan really centers the drama throughout. I wanted to bear hug both of them. Dolph Lundgren returns as the still-enormous, sneering Drago, but at this point he looks so weathered and beaten down by misfortune that the only thing he has left is the thought of vengeance, and the love for his son, even if it’s expressed in totally unhealthy ways from time to time. Yes, we get to see a slightly vulnerable side of Drago here, and the film is definitely the better for it. And even Phylicia Rashad – returning as Adonis’ mother, Mary Anne – is stellar as the sage parent of a child left fatherless by the elder Drago, and is forced to see her late husband’s ego reemerge as her son decides to step back into the ring under frighteningly similar circumstances. Tessa Thompson has a bit less to do here, but works the hell out of her role as the girlfriend forced to watch her somewhat emotionally infantile boyfriend struggle with emotions even he doesn’t understand.
Florian Munteanu is actually a real life boxer with very limited acting experience, and for the first part of the film, he’s your standard, grimacing villain. So, from a character-building perspective, he’s the weakest link. But as the film progresses, you see that his character is being pushed along by the wishes of an anguished father, and you being to feel really sorry for him. Munteanu has a key scene where his emotions explode and his true motivations are revealed, and it’s here that Viktor truly becomes a fully-fleshed out individual that we can actually empathize with. It takes a little bit to get there, but it’s worth the wait.
Having said that, Caple Jr. knew he couldn’t get away with making this film without tipping his hat to a few iconic scenes from Rocky IV. I wouldn’t dream of giving them away, but if you’re a true fan of the previous film, then you’ll have no trouble pointing them out and getting a massive kick out of it in the process.
Overall, the thing that makes Creed II a great piece of pop entertainment is that it delivers some pretty poignant drama and action for the first part of the film, then relaxes into more meditative moments about legacy, friendship, fatherhood, and pride in the middle of it. Jordan is incredibly solid in displaying Adonis’ fluctuations between genuine caring for those in his life, and outright rage when presented with the possibility of failure to retain his title. He’s a grown man who hasn’t quite realized what’s worth fighting for at the outset of the film, but becomes more clear as the film progresses. And Stallone is perfection as the torn coach that can’t shake the guilt of what he could have done to save Apollo, and what he could have done to save his relationship with his own son. I loved that Caple Jr. let the audience take a rest and get to know Creed’s (and Rocky’s) struggle more intimately in the middle of the film before the inevitable bout-to-end-all bouts that is [almost] as riveting and rousing as the original one between Rocky and Drago, which is really saying something. The film had me cheering, popping out of my seat, then descending into a puddle of weapy-faced tears along with the rest of the audience by the film’s end.
While not superior to 2015’s Creed, this follow-up serves as a fresh, heartfelt, and energetic sequel that still dabbles in enough nostalgia to satisfy the fans of the original Rocky vs. Drago rivalry, and delivers a T.K.O to the feels by end.
Now can we get Caple Jr. to remake Red Dawn while we’re at it?
