Creed III (2023)

Rating: 8.7

TL:DR - Creed III is a knockout! On the level of the first Creed, with some intense and brutal fight scenes amplified by a strong personal story. Jonathan Majors is a beast and continues to prove himself as one of the best working actors, and Michael B. Jordan is once again fantastic as Adonis as well as pulls off a phenomenal directorial debut.

---

Film Info:

Premise: Adonis has been thriving in both his career and family life, but when a childhood friend and former boxing prodigy resurfaces, the face-off is more than just a fight.

•

MGM

Directed by Michael B. Jordan

Screenplay by Keenan Coogler & Zach Baylin

Story by Ryan Coogler, Keenan Coogler & Zach Baylin

Cast: Michael B. Jordan, Tessa Thompson, Jonathan Majors, Wood Harris, Florian Munteanu, Phylicia Rashad

Runtime: 1hr 56min

Rating: PG

Drama, Sport

•

IMDb Rating: 7.4/10

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 87%

RT Audience Score: 96%

RT Critic Average: 7.1/10

RT Audience Average: 4.7/5

Metacritic Score: 74

CinemaScore: A-

Letterboxd: 3.8/5

•

Fun Fact: This will be the first film in the Rocky/Creed series to not feature Sylvester Stallone as Rocky Balboa. With his absence, there will be no characters who have appeared in every film in the series.

---

Review:

written by Tyler Park

Creed III is the tipping point for me: the Creed movies are better than the Rocky movies. It’s a bold statement, I know. But despite the Rocky films' iconic status in film history, I gotta say that the Creed films are just better films, and they worked for me a whole hell of a lot more. And I’m even happier to report that Creed III is nearly as good, if not better than the original Creed from 2015; one of the greatest legacy sequels ever made.

And yet, this might still end up being my favourite of the trilogy. I’m a sucker for a very personal, emotional, character-driven story. And that’s exactly what we get here. They poured so much heart and character into it; it’s solely about the relationship between Adonis and Damien. It’s a very different film than the first two, and I just loved those different directions it went in, even without an appearance from Stallone’s Rocky Balboa.

For years, the world has wondered if a movie in the Rocky franchise could survive without its titular hero? Creed III answers with a resounding, yes. Quite frankly, as much as I love Rocky and Stallone, he wasn’t needed in this story. The relationship drama between Adonis and Damien was enough to compel me through the movie, and before I knew it I realized I wasn’t missing Rocky at all, because this was a good enough movie to stand on its own (and Rocky had a good sendoff in Creed II). I liked that this film fully distinguished itself as a Creed movie, finally stepping out of the shadow of the Rocky films.

It’s just a fantastic movie, and an excellent directorial debut from Michael B. Jordan! He has really proved himself as a very talented actor over the years and now has shown a strong aptitude for direction as well. He brought a fresh take to the franchise and I really liked the choices he made, especially when it came down to the fight scenes, which were the most intense, well-shot, and well-choreographed we have ever gotten in the now 9-film Rocky/Creed franchise! I’ll admit, when Michael B. Jordan was saying the fights were inspired by anime, I was a little incredulous. But seeing it in action? Holy shit. Easily the best fight scenes in the entire franchise, and it works so well for the film. The final fight is emotional, personal, gripping and the way Jordan filmed it was inspired. He also made a bold choice in that final fight scene that made the fight feel a lot more personal and intimate between the two opponents which I loved because it brought in a unique new element and really elevated the emotional character-relationship stakes in the moment. It really made the final fight stand out from every other boxing movie in the past!

I was in awe of what Jordan was able to pull off in his first time as a director, because he didn’t just handle the fights well, he handled the tone, the cinematography, the story, the editing and everything else so well. His direction really made you care about all of the characters which really helped with the personal stakes, making the final fight intense not only because of the physical nature of it, but also because of the character and relationship storyline that had been established. Jordan even handles smaller moments very well, especially between Adonis and Damien. You can really feel this unspoken tension in every scene between them, even before there is any mention of tension between the two. Jordan really has a vision as a director, bringing a fresh perspective to this franchise and I can’t wait to see what his next project is. And I don’t often say this about a Rocky movie, but thanks to some excellent direction, the best part about Creed III is that even if you take all the boxing and fight scenes out of it, you are still left with a very good movie!

The really smart move here, besides overhauling the fight scenes, is changing the entire dynamic of the franchise. For years, we watched Rocky be the underdog in all his stories and in a lot of ways, Adonis is much less of a Balboa character and much more an Apollo, while Majors (who is unsurprisingly perfect) is much more the Rocky figure. It's this dynamic that keeps the movie consistently fresh and a thrill to watch.

With Majors’ Damien being more like the Rocky character of the film, I genuinely found myself both intimidated by him but also rooting for him in a way. It could be because of the way the character was written (and it was a very well-written character), but I have a feeling it all comes down to the way Majors played it. He is a revelation; he is the standout of this film, becoming the best and most memorable antagonist of the Creed trilogy. It’s really no surprise he was perfect here; Jonathan Majors has really shown that he is one of the greatest, most gifted actors working today. And he so fiercely devours the entire film! I was just blown away by him! If you thought he was good as Kang in Ant-Man, which I did, he is even better here! He has this charisma that works so well for him as an actor, and this really helps you to understand Damien’s perspective and pain despite his aggressive actions. The movie, as well as Majors’ performance really makes you empathize with Damien. You feel the threat of him, but he still feels like a real person that you can connect with. Majors also had the perfect physicality for the role and looked like a true beast in the movie. It was hard not to be intimidated by his ferocity when his character was in the ring, and he sold his part in the fight scenes so well. I’m just constantly floored by the sheer talent Majors has, and every time I see him on screen I can’t help but love his performance. He is an actor to keep your eyes on, he is so compelling on screen and quite honestly he is one of the main reasons I loved this movie as much as I did. When I reviewed Ant-Man, I said Jonathan Majors was great but I wished the movie around him was better, and well, a few weeks later I got that! A great Majors performance in a great movie!

Don’t get me wrong, I still loved Michael B. Jordan as Adonis and he is awesome in this role once again. I was especially impressed to see he managed to direct the film so well while also delivering possibly his best performance in this trilogy to date. He’s just an exceptionally talented creative talent and fits in this franchise so well!

The movie is great, but I can’t overall say it is perfect. One could argue that the first Creed was a stronger film, and it was insanely well crafted by Ryan Coogler, but this is still a near perfect follow-up. I really do think I liked this one the most though! Sure, the score could have been a little stronger in some places, and I solely missed Ludwig Göransson’s compositions and the way he would infuse the Creed and Rocky themes as well as other music from the soundtrack. There’s touches of all of that here, but it just didn’t connect with me the same way the music in the first two films did. The film is overall very well paced too, however in the back half I noticed it did move past some major plot points pretty quickly and I felt it could have used a little more time, but again, these notes are minor.

I loved Creed III! I know it’s early to say this but so far it is the best of the year! The film is thrilling, it’s lots of fun and has some really intense boxing sequences amplified by a strong personal story. Michael B. Jordan pulled off a fantastic performance AND directorial debut and Jonathan Majors proved himself as one of the best working actors out there once again! The film is a pure knockout, and I highly recommend checking out this extremely well-made and entertaining film!

---

Trailer: