Creed III
Year: 2023
Rating: PG-13
Length: 114 minutes / 1.90 hours
It’s a little weird to me that each time the Rocky franchise gets further into its sequels, it ceases to understand what made the original work so well. People don’t want to see someone living in opulence (or owning a robot butler) confronting the ghosts from their past. Instead, they want to see the underdog go the distance to show what they’re made of. And while Creed III (2023) mostly falls into this trap, it has a few moments about fatherhood that shine through.
After Creed (2015) and Creed II (2018) pulled out the biggest connections to the Rocky franchise with Rocky Balboa and Ivan Drago, respectively, I wasn’t sure where this franchise would go from there. It didn’t feel narratively strong to look backward at Adonis’ (Michael B. Jordan) past with Damian (Jonathan Majors) since any generic boxing film could have used those story beats. Sure, it makes it more personal and gives the Creed spinoffs more of their own identity away from the Rocky franchise. However, I don’t particularly care to root for someone successful like Adonis, because then he’s not really overcoming anything.
The one credit I’ll give this film for going down the “confronting your past” plotline was the chance for minor characters to shine. Tessa Thompson as Bianca has been a great part of these movies, and the addition of Mila Davis-Kent as Adonis and Bianca’s daughter is really what solidified what this movie was trying to say. Learning from our past as parents to help mold our children—especially the children who are heading down the paths and mistakes we’ve made—is a fantastic lesson for anyone who wants to be a role model for the younger generations.
An uninspired plot with a few bright spots about mentoring our children, I give Creed III 3.0 stars out of 5.
