Review on Creed

MOVIE: Creed AKA Rocky Reboot with a Hot Black Dude

I wasn't that interested in this movie at first, given that it would be about the 19th Rocky movie we have out there and I feel plenty content with the classics like Rocky 1, 2, and 4. The heart of Rocky 1 was that here was this unassuming guy with a deep Philly accent and a crooked mouth that wrote a film and shot it with an extremely modest budget and built an empire on a sleeper hit. It's just like the Matt Damon/ Ben Affleck story with Will Hunting, except the main star talks like he had a stroke at a young age, which in my opinion, makes his success that much more impressive.

Pardon my digs at Sly Stallone, I do appreciate the guy and his commitment. He's not as young as he used to be and he's still making Rocky movies-- and Creed proves they can still deliver. In fact, I beg the argument that Creed would have felt like half a movie without him. I appreciate Michael B. Jordan making tough acting look easy like Whitney made belting out singing look easy, but the movie needed The Italian Stallion as a mentor and father figure, for sure.

I felt like it was a great plot device to have Adonis Creed take the spangly gloves of Apollo, as the drama was felt with his mother fearing to lose another family member to the fighting game, and also the built-in fame that being 'Baby Creed' provided. It made for an interesting tale that rags-to-riches Balboa never experienced.

Most of all, the way they shot it was the thing I appreciated most. The cinematography was new and well thought-out, sometimes having complicated fight sequences all in a well-choreographed single take. Older fans of the franchise will appreciate quite a bit of throwback to the first Rocky film, with the infamous soundtrack, Philly steps and without spoiling too much, sometimes lining up frame-by-frame with well known scenes from the past.

The movie gave me very few complaints. The love story was a bit new-millennial, and made me long for the days of the true gentlemanly style way that Rocky courted Adrian. Also, there were times when the more 'street' lines felt scripted and forced, as if a white guy was trying to write ghetto dialogue by what Urban Dictionary advised. I did also spot more than a few times where the fighters hesitated on one another, as if trying to remember their practiced punch routines, but with fights as complicated as they showed, you tend to give them a free pass.

Bottom line: The Human Torch handled his part like a champ, but on a movie like this, needed Balboa to lead the way with his blessing into a reboot arc... And he led him to the light.

A-