Creed II (2018, PG-13)

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.