Creed II

There are only two things wrong with Creed II, but they are massive problems that sink an otherwise well-made film.  The first is that the sequel is completely unnecessary.  While the 2015 original did leave some room open for continuation, it was not entirely needed.  It ended on a strong note, and the characters were where they needed to be.  The second is that the movie ignores what made the last one work so well.  It was a human story that took the characters of the Rocky film universe, and put the spotlight on them, rather than the boxing.  While the fight scenes were certainly beautifully shot, it was the characters and how poignant, smart and funny they were that drew the audience into their world.

All of the actors from the last movie are here, and they are just as good as before.  But something is missing, and that something is a true reason for this movie to exist.  It does not further the characters or their storylines.  Rather, it plops them into a predictable formula plot, and puts them through the motions of a traditional three-act structure.  If the last movie seemed so fresh and vibrant, maybe it's because it was under the helm of Ryan Coogler, who managed to get to heart of the characters and the world that Sylvester Stallone created with the original Rocky back in 1976.  Coogler, naturally, was unavailable for the sequel, as he was busy with Marvel's Black Panther at the time.  In his place, Stallone was handed the chance to work on the script, alongside Juel Taylor, and he has returned to the traditional structure of the earlier movies in the franchise with this one.  The emotional depth and power we saw before is now replaced with a well-made but generic tone helmed by a relative newcomer director, Steven Caple Jr.

The film opens with Adonis Creed (Michael B. Jordan) reaching the top of the boxing world and becoming the heavyweight champ under the guidance of Rocky Balboa (Stallone).  To celebrate, Adonis proposes to his girlfriend Bianca (Tessa Thompson), who was such a memorable character in the last movie, but here has been given the throwaway role of the dutiful wife and expecting mother after she learns she is pregnant.  Aside from a few encouraging words to her husband, she contributes little, which is a step down for her character.  Now that Adonis has the championship belt, he becomes the target of up and coming Russian boxer, Viktor Drago (Florian Munteanu), the son of Rocky IV antagonist Ivan Drago (Dolph Lundgren).  Ivan famously killed Adonis' father, Apollo, in the ring, and now Viktor is calling Adonis out for a televised grudge match. 

Adonis naturally wants to fight Viktor in the ring in his father's memory.  He asks Rocky for his support, but Balboa has been through this once before, and will not go through it again.  Angry, Adonis takes Drago on his own, and naturally ends up unprepared when it's time for the big fight.  What follows is your standard movie formula of a hero having to pick up the pieces of his life, realize what is truly important, go back to his wise friend and mentor for advice and training, and the training montages begin as we lead up to the second big fight between Adonis and Viktor.  This is one of those movies where you can leave the theater for a half hour, come back, and not miss anything.  The one original scene that the movie does throw in is a sequence where Ivan Drago meets Rocky at the Italian restaurant that Balboa now owns, and talks about how his life fell apart after he lost to him over 30 years ago.  This is the kind of scene that the movie needed more of, and that the last one had in spades.

In Creed, it truly felt like Adonis' story.  We saw his struggle to rise to the top without riding on the famous name of his father, we saw a true relationship blossom between Bianca and him, and we saw how Rocky had since faded away after his fame had long left him, but that he had not given up the fight.  We get none of this emotion or complexity in Creed II.  It is simply a generically structured plotline, where the once fleshed out and fascinating characters are now assigned predetermined roles, and play them out as expected.  There is nothing to complain about here when it comes to the performances, or the technical credits of the film, all of which are as fine as before.  The trouble lies solely with the script, which has been simplified, and does not want to explore these people further, or make them as interesting as we remember them being.

I personally believe a big part of the problem lies in giving Stallone the reigns of the script this time around. (He had nothing to do with the script for the last movie, which was a first for the Rocky franchise.) He seems to struggle with who is supposed to be the main character here.  In the last film, Rocky was clearly a supporting character, but a memorable one, and one who still managed to play a key role in the story, even though it was not his movie for the first time.  Here, Adonis and Rocky seem to be almost fighting for control of the narrative, and it gets a bit awkward.  Also underdeveloped is the potentially fascinating father-son relationship that is hinted at between Ivan and Viktor.  The movie seems to be attempting to be making them more than just simple antagonists with their own issues to work through, but the film constantly holds back, and the potentially interesting subplot is never brought to focus like it should. 

Back in 2015, Creed was a total surprise, going on to box office success, critical acclaim, and even an Oscar nomination for Stallone. (A well-deserved one, at that.) I have a strong feeling that Creed II will be met with much more muted appreciation.  Much like the Rocky sequels that came before it, the film struggles to understand what made the original work so well, and replaces it with conventional and tired plotting.  This is a good-looking and well-acted movie, but this time around, there's nothing underneath to get excited about.

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