I’m going
to preface this by saying I don’t love Creed
II the way I love Creed, but
that’s not to say it’s a bad movie.
While the first one is threaded with Ryan Coogler’s clear narrative and
artistic vision throughout, this one is still a fine film in its own right,
even if it doesn’t burn quite as brightly for me.
Since the
events of the first movie, Donnie’s star has been on the rise. He’s been making a name for himself rather
than just being a talking point about his father, but that legacy can’t escape
him. Right when Donnie is at his
highest, he’s challenged to a fight by Viktor Drago, the son of the boxer who
killed his father in the ring. Rocky,
remembering the death of Apollo Creed, refuses to condone the fight, and Donnie
prepares to take on Drago alone.
I have a
few issues with this movie. Chief among
them is the fact that I don’t think it articulates the characters’ inner lives
quite as nicely. I’ve talked before
about the rich themes that the first film pulls out of Donnie’s character, but
this one just feels a little more… expected.
As the plot develops and the characters react to the big moments, I just
kind of thought, “Sure.” I mean, it works, but it doesn’t really challenge
and excite in the same way, for me, as the first one does. Additionally, there are points where it feels
alternately overstuffed and
underserved. There’s a lot happening in
the story, and that means places where the film just feels overly busy, as well
as characters and storylines that don’t feel as fleshed-out as they
should. In particular, I think Bianca
gets shortchanged here, and even though I think the first movie could have done
a better job with her, she feels even thinner in this one.
But
again, there’s still a lot to like in the film.
While I think the “Drago vs. Creed” angle feels a bit underexplored on
Donnie’s side, the movie does well with father-and-son team of Ivan and Viktor
Drago. In the scenes of Ivan training
Viktor, we get a lot about their relationship told pretty effectively with very
little dialogue, and the journey these two go on over the course of the film is
compelling. Additionally, I continue to
enjoy the Donnie-Rocky relationship and the overall emphasis on deep male
relationships (their emotional openness with one another is really nice to
see,) and the desert training montage is undoubtedly a fine new entry into the Rocky franchise’s collection.
The
acting, as in the first film, is also topnotch.
Michael B. Jordan of course crushes it again as Donnie, navigating some
major highs and lows, and Sylvester Stallone continues to do well with Rocky in
mentor mode. Tessa Thompson and Phylicia
Rashad both make the most of their roles, and, as the Dragos, Dolph Lundgren
and Florian Munteanu are understated but effective.
Warnings
Serious
boxing violence, language, drinking, light sexual content, and thematic
elements.
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