Movie Review: Creed II
Hey Steemains and movie buffs
I'm back for another reivew. I've been a fan of the Rocky franchise for some time now and when you get the opportunity to go toe to toe with this movie in the series, you take it.
I saw Creed 2 this weekend, the sequel we all expected to happen after the success of the first one. After Rocky 6 Stalone decided to put the series to bed.
But young up and coming director Ryan Coogler had other plans and tastefully rebooted the series under a new name, Creed! He really put together an amazing story, paid homage to the original and crafted a new path for the franchise, even getting Stallones blessing in the process.
I was a big fan of the first Creed and had high hopes for this movie. What I liked about the first movie was good pacing, plot twists which pulled on the heart strings, innovative and immersive fight cinematography, and a positive overall message of sportsmanship, kindness and family.
Poster for Creed 2 - Image source: Movieweb
What is Creed 2 about?
We are dropped back into the world of boxing years after Adonis Creed made a name for himself under Rocky Balboa's tutourlidge.
The young boxer becomes the Heavyweight Champion of the World and finally joins the elite memebers in the sport, like his mentor Rocky and his father Apollo.
Life seems pretty good, his on top of his game, his recently engaged and plans to start a family which he needs to protect, like we saw Rocky go through with Adrian all those years ago.
Trouble comes to Philadelphia when Ivan Drago, the Russian boxer who killed Adonis' father, Apollo, arrives with his son, Viktor, to challenge Adonis. The Drago family have its own troubles trying to regain the respect in their homeland, being cast out after Ian lost at Rocky's hands in Russia all those years ago.
Against Rocky's advice, Adonis accepts the challenge without his mentor's participation. Can young Creed do it alone?
Trailer for Creed 2
What I thought of Creed 2
This movie tries to do way to much for me. Its as if its trying to be a reboot of a reboot and disregaurd all the foundations laid down in the first movie.
First we see Adonis finally crowned champion and as soon as his joined the elite. The media begin to question his validity, is he just a paper champion. He clearly still living in the shadow of his father and his mentor. He struggles with filling the void that he thought being champion would fill.
Then he decides
Tessa Thompson as Adonis' girlfriend Bianca has to deal with having to support her fiance, having a baby as well as balancing it with still wanting to persue a career in music while she hasn't completely lost her hearing. (Character building great, but we spent too much time on it)
In order to chase her dream, they move out of philledelphia leaving Rocky behind. So we have to deal with Adonis being torn between two parts of his family. (Unecessary, we didn't need this)
Adonis having to deal with raising a family, being a first time father to a disabled baby (Fits in with the series of overcoming hardships no matter what, I can deal with that)
Rocky who had been kept busy and supported by Creed now faces life alone again. He realises that Adonis filled the void left by the broken relationship he has with his son and how he wasted time never repairing that relationship. (Don't mind this, works brilliantly to push the narrative)
Ivan and Viktor are cast outs, after losing to Rocky he was seen as an embarasment and shipped off to the Ukraine. He lost his wife, title and respect. Having this loss fester for years he transfers this rivalry to his son, he will right the wrong of his father and win back the affection of his cold mother. (Really gave the villian some character and we actually feel for them and understand their motivations, should have been played up more in fact)
So you can see how following and fleshing out these arcs and still having the boxing take centre stage was going to be an impossible task and something was bound to suffer.
Director Steve Caple Jr seems more comfortable outside the ring himself, as the boxing match camera work does not hit the level of the first, although audience members' emotions run even higher.
This sequel is more grand scale than the first with so much at stake, the champ has everything to lose. The movies pacing is also painfully slow and the plot is formulaic.
Fight scenes are filmed differently - it was just lots of quick cuts so hard to feel immersed. The director clearly didn't feel comfortable with franchise staples like the fight scenes and training montage which seemed like an after thought.
To overcompensate for the poor camera work and weak boxing choreography we are treated to some of the loudest most outlandsih sound effects ever. It's as if pulled right out of battle scenes in war movies - they sound like explosions, and are exaggerated so that we viewers might "feel" the ribs cracking.
They worst part is Adonis has changed into a completely unsympathetic character. He is hotheaded and distant throughout the film.
Adonis is fixated on avenging his father's death - despite allt he other dramas and arcs playing out.
I find this unlike the character who showed growth in the first movie. In fact its as if his regressed when you consider that his opponent having nothing to do with the death.
My rating for Creed 2
This movie definitely needed Ryan Coogler to serve as a director. Even though Creed lost in the first movie, you felt his growth was bigger as a boxer and a person than in this one.
This movie felt like somebody's fan fiction come to life. It's totally predictable and doesn't take any risks. The pacing is terrible and plays out more as a drama with boxing as an after thought.
I'm sure fans of the series will support this film and it will earn enough to get the sequal it doesn't deserve as this franchise is almost too strong to fail,
If I were to go 10 rounds with this movie I'd knock it out in the 6th. Creed 2 gets a 6 out of 10 from me.
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You could have been a nice official movie critic, I'l be waiting for more such reviews ;)
LOL that would be the dream getting paid to watch movies and give your opinion :-) thanks man
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That could easily be a dream job of any movie lover including me but sadly its just not easy :D Anyways you can be our star movie critic on Steemit :D
He already is :))) Make sure to follow him if you do not follow him already! I love reading his reviews...
I follow him already, and he writes good. Good to know you
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Totally agree with @hananali, you can seriously have been a pro movie critic! I haven't seen the first movie yet, but it is on my list of movies to watch, and I actually think the second movie sounds great as well. It might not be the best, but the story sounds solid enough to me, so I hope I will have the chance to watch both the Creed movies :)
Lol man thanks so much, really appreciate your support on my movie reviews! Most of them never got a comment but i just keep at it because I like to share my opinion on things i watch. Id normally talk to my friends about it and then I found steemit so I thought why not put it up here..
I think you will really like Creed, if you have no connection to the original content and just watch it from scratch like the 2 creed movies I think its more enjoyable. Being in the shadow of a frenachise thats 30 years old isnt easy