Creed

Creed is the seventh movie in the much-loved Rocky series, and the first one not to center on Sylvester Stallone’s “Italian Stallion” boxer. This film’s hero is the illegitimate son of Rocky Balboa’s rival-turned-buddy Apollo Creed, and Stallone takes on the secondary role of an aging Rocky who reluctantly gets back into the fight game to train the young Adonis Johnson-Creed (Michael B. Jordan).  While not a reboot—the film continues Rocky’s story rather than updating or reimagining it—Creed, like this same year’s Mad Max-Fury Road, exemplifies how best to breathe fresh life into an old cinematic property.  Director Ryan Coogler (Fruitvale Station) honors the spirit and simplicity of the original picture while bringing new perspective and a slick, contemporary edge to the proceedings. Creed evades the pitfalls of a franchise re-launch by exploring the inherent drama in its new protagonist’s complicated relationship with the ghost of a character we remember from previous pictures but that he himself never met. Reuniting with Fruitvale star Jordan, who brings nuance, passion, and charisma to the titular role, Coogler takes the reins of the iconic series with confidence and purpose. His film does not hide the fact that it is part of a beloved cinematic dynasty (we even see Philadelphia’s Rocky statue at one point), but Creed never panders to the audience or winks at us in that cutesy, meta way we see in so many sequels and remakes.  Thus we get caught up in this movie’s story, rather than thinking about the past pictures as we watch. Coogler treats Creed’s fictional characters with the same respect he brought to the real-life individuals in Fruitvale Station. As a result they seem authentic to us despite their formulaic trappings. All these choices make Creed one of the better entries of the Rocky legacy.

It helps that Stallone seems completely comfortable not only slipping into the Burgess Meredith role of a grizzled, aging, former champ, but also turning his creation over to a young filmmaker with only one feature under his belt. (Coogler not only directed but also wrote the script, with Stallone producing along with the stalwart Rocky production team of Robert Chartoff and Irwin Winkler.) As an actor, Stallone is always best when he’s underplaying a part. Here, as in the original picture, he plays Rocky as a simple guy from Philadelphia; yes a former champ with a lot of history on his shoulders, but basically an ordinary man. Therefore, even when the script takes a potentially melodramatic turn, it never feels contrived. Or, I should say, it never feels any more contrived than it should.  Creed doesn’t apologize for being an old-school, Hollywood, inspirational narrative about a plucky underdog following a seemingly impossible dream. It’s the type of movie audiences used to love but now mostly reject as false. The talented Coogler gives us all the elements we expect—a beautiful love interest (Tessa Thompson), an arrogant challenger (Tony Bellew), the requisite scenes of Rocky not wanting to train Adonis and grudgingly changing his mind, and a well-stage climactic boxing match that concludes exactly as you hope it will. But rather than dismiss these expected components, we get swept up by them.  Coogler delivers us a movie fantasy that feels “just right”.  He makes us believe again in Hollywood make-believe.