Perhaps catching up on movies you never got around to see makes the current coronavirus lockdown/quarantine somewhat bearable. Or maybe not.
In any event, released in November 2018, Creed II is the second sequel to the the Sylvester Stallone-created and starring Rocky franchise and constitutes the eighth overall installment, taking all the movies in the series collectively.
If you’re stuck at home, as just about everyone is, Creed II is currently streaming on Amazon Prime for subscribers.
Creed (2015) seemed like a low-energy yarn that perhaps could have been saved by reediting the scenes in a more stimulating way. Bringing back Survivor’s “Eye of Tiger,” the rousing theme song from Rocky III, might have helped.
Does Creed II Have More Punch Than Creed?
Recall that in Rocky IV, Rocky Balboa’s rival turned friend Apollo Creed (Carl Weathers) died in the ring at the hands of menacing Soviet boxer Ivan Drago (Dolph Lundgren).
In the culmination of that film, Rocky Balboa (Stallone) defeated Drago in a 15-round bout.
To make a long story short, in Creed II, Adonis Creed (Michael B. Jordan) seeks to avenge his father’s death by fighting Ivan’s son Viktor Drago (Florian Munteanu), who is somewhat similarly pursuing family and professional redemption.
Lundgren, who has had a heck of a prolific career with 94 IMDB acting credits,(admittedly some of the direct-to-video kind) is solid as he reprises his role as Drago Sr., this time around his son’s cold, relentless trainer.
As a Rocky IV rehash, Creed II reportedly grossed $241 million worldwide on production budget of $50 million, the kind of numbers Hollywood loves.
Even with all that money spent, it nonetheless comes across as low-budget show that you might see on either on the Hallmark or the Lifetime Channel, maybe with a few action scenes thrown in.
Despite an 80 percent fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes, the boxing opus directed by Steven Caple Jr. is boring, unexciting it its “exciting” parts, derivative, and predictable, with unengaging characters and various plot holes, some of which are outlined below.
Sly Stallone is a brilliant entertainment mogul and star, so the fact that he co-wrote the lackluster, amateurish script is fundamentally disappointing. Based on the content in the finished product, the screenplay was never vetted for common sense either.
It’s his choice, of course, but still portraying the Rocky character as a semi-punch- drunk, stuck-in-the-70s loser with a silly hat, seems very demeaning for an actor of his stature and credentials.
Michael B. Jordan dominates the movie with an aggressive performance. Plus, he must have gone thorough a grueling physical regimen to prepare for the role.
(Parenthetically, Munteanu — who barely gets any dialogue in Creed II — is also jacked, making him a far more imposing foe than Creed’s seemingly out-of-shape nemesis in the previous film.)
Spoilers and Observations Follow
A major flaw in the proceeding is that Jordan’s character is unlikeable, however, and with virtually no on-screen chemistry with his mentor Rocky Balboa.
Strangely, he plays a heavyweight champion of the world with no entourage, virtually no friends, evidently no cash in the bank, and not even having anyone to drive him to the gym. And after suffering broken ribs and a ruptured kidney in the first Drago fight, the recovery time could have kept Adonis Creed out of action indefinitely.
As IMDB user parnell-rj explained, “This movie is rife with cliches, all of which are poorly executed. Mix that with a protagonist that’s often difficult to like and you get Creed II…The parts of the movie that were meant to be uplifting and inspiring fall completely flat and miss the mark…”
As several other IMDB users have pointed out, Adonis Creed is probably too light to qualify in the heavyweight division in the first place.
A substantial part of the film is consumed with the relationship between Creed and his girlfriend Bianca (Tessa Thompson), the mother of his baby daughter, the histrionics of which may indeed make you think you are watching a Hallmark or Lifetime movie.
The Bianca character has substantial hearing loss, but inexplicably there are only two brief sequences where the couple communicates by sign language.
By the way, is it a good idea to work on a heavy bag with a newborn sitting next to you possibly getting knocked over?
Rocky somehow manages to show up at Adonis Creed’s bedside immediately after the first fight, but later in the movie on a separate visit, he makes a point to mention that it took him three days to get to Los Angeles from Philadelphia by train. How is that possible?
At crunch time, did anyone really expect that Rocky would refuse to train Adonis for the rematch?
Rocky Balboa owns a restaurant that stays in business despite never having any customers and still lives in a rundown apartment. A former heavyweight champion of the world, however, could make a small fortune merely signing autographs at sports memorabilia shows, apart from any other ventures, so Rocky’s minimalist lifestyle lacks believability.
In Creed II‘s initial fight and the rematch, the boxers pummel each other unmercifully with head and body shots. Neither one of them assume a defensive posture to safeguard themselves. Whatever happened to “protect yourself at all times”? It’s sort of like gunfights in gangster movies where the henchmen stand out in the open so they can be easily shot.
For a variety of reasons, including the time zone differential, no promoter would allow a title bout to occur in Moscow. Instead, Las Vegas would be the logical venue.
Is It a Split Decision or a Knockout?
Creed II has only two good scenes and that have nothing to do with boxing. One is the brief-but-intense encounter between Rocky and Drago Sr. at the former’s empty-as-usual restaurant. The second provides a major swerve when Adonis’ mother played by Phylicia Rashad surprises the viewing audience by guessing that Bianca is pregnant.
Did we really need ESPN blowhard Max Kellerman doing the play by play?
In a nice touch, it does appear that the Dragos subtly repair their volatile relationship in the end without a lot of sappy sentimentality that occurs elsewhere in the film among the other main characters.
The end credits contain some really cool images, if you manage to get that far.
Bottom line: Like Viktor Drago in the first fight, Creed II sadly deserves to be disqualified from your viewing list.
With a guaranteed box office (a so-called tentpole movie, a.k.a. a cash grab) after the first two installments, though, Creed III is reportedly already in the works, with a callback to Rocky III.
