Creed III Review: Awesomely Fun!

Michael B. Jordan helms as the director, while Ryan and Keegan Coogler serve as the writers for Creed 3, the third sequel of the Creed franchise and the ninth of the Rocky franchise. The movie features a star-studded cast including Jordan, Tessa Thompson, Jonathan Majors, Wood Harris, Florian Munteanu, Phylicia Rashad, Teófimo López, Thaddeus J. Mixon, Spencer Moore II, and Mila Davis-Kent. Interestingly, this is the first film in the Rocky/Creed series that excludes Rocky from the cast. The absence of Sylvester Stallone, who opted out for personal reasons, is attributed to his belief that there is no significant role for him in the film.

Creed 3 tells the story of Adonis, whose childhood friend, Damian, was a rising star and a boxing prodigy before being imprisoned. After being released from jail, Damian realizes that he has wasted valuable time and is running out of time in his prime and becomes more determined to achieve his dreams of reaching the top of boxing. However, his actions become increasingly dangerous and reckless, revealing that he has nothing left to lose. As a result, Adonis must come out of retirement to settle old and new scores.

Despite the initial negative press and disappointment that Sylvester Stallone wouldn’t be in the film, I was pretty excited for Creed 3, largely due to the fact that it is Michael B. Jordan’s directorial debut. He shot the film on IMAX cameras and was inspired by anime for the fight scenes. Additionally, Jonathan Majors is slotted in as the villain, going face to face with Jordan. This is the second time in three weeks we’re seeing Majors as the antagonist of a major franchise. While Quantumania didn’t go so well, his performance stole the entire project. Two Marvel villains slotted against each other, who will win? How will this film fare?

Well, y’all will be happy to know that Creed 3 is fantastic, grounded, incredibly fun, and dramatic in all the right ways. The movie is larger in scale than the last two, simply because of the way it was shot. The IMAX cameras capture the film perfectly, making it the best-looking film of the year and the biggest-looking film of the year (so far), if that makes sense.

On top of the cameras, Jordan’s directorial debut went fantastically. He captures this film perfectly, from a fighter’s perspective. The inclusion of certain stylistic moments in this film were excellent choices. The anime-like fight scenes were incredibly fun. This is definitely my favorite Creed since the first, although I still feel like the first one is better. However, I definitely like this one better than the second. The script by the Coogler brothers is excellent, with exceptional pacing that doesn’t slow down once it starts.

In terms of performance, Michael B. Jordan is amazing and charismatic as ever as Adonis. He has a presence on screen that no one can replicate, and everyone in the room knows it. Tessa Thompson is also phenomenal as always as Creed’s wife and music producer, Bianca. She has become a deeply passionate and empathetic character, and I love her in this role. As far as standout performances go, it’s once again, just like Ant-Man and the Wasp 3, Jonathan Majors as Damian who steals the show. He’s astounding and might even be better in this role than Kang so far… He’s terrific and carries scenes at times, and he is phenomenal throughout.

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Some other good performances come from returning characters played by Phylicia Rashad and Wood Harris, the seasoned veteran actors of the film. But there are also some really good performances from the young cast. Thaddeus J. Mixon and Spencer Moore II are awesome as young Adonis and young Damian, with Mila Davis Kent standing out as Adonis and Bianca’s daughter Amara. This film just had a powerhouse of performances, to put it simply.

All in all, even without the titular character of the series, Creed 3 is one of my favorite Rocky films. Do I think this movie would have been better with Stallone’s inclusion? Absolutely, but I also understand that this was a deeply personal story that could have felt bloated had he been there. There’s more to the story than there being no place for Rocky. It is a feud between producers, one of them being Stallone and the other Irwin Walker, who currently owns the rights to the Rocky franchise. With that being said, this movie is cinematic. It packs a serious punch and begs to be seen as intended, in an IMAX theater.

‘Creed 3’ Rating – 3.5/5

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