MOVIE: Creed III (2023)

by benmweilertNo Comments
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...
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MOVIE: Creed II (2018)

by benmweilert1 Comment
Creed II Year: 2018 Rating: PG-13 Length: 130 minutes / 2.17 hours While I have only ever seen the original Rocky (1976) and the spinoff/reboot Creed (2015), I’m still aware of some of the details of the Rocky franchise as a whole. I know who some of Rocky Balboa’s (Sylvester Stallone) opponents were over the years, including James “Clubber” Lang (Mr. T) and Ivan Drago (Dolph Lundgren). Consequently, even though Creed felt like it took the franchise in a new direction by focusing on Apollo Creed’s (Carl Weathers) son, its sequel, Creed II (2018) felt too steeped in the franchise’s history and nostalgia to be anything more than a rehash of Rocky IV (1985). If anything, having Apollo Creed’s son, Adonis (Michael B. Jordan), face off against Ivan Drago’s son, Viktor (Florian Munteanu), as a revenge match that followed the same plot points as its predecessor smacks of lazy and clichéd writing. I would have been much more interested in this film if, even despite all the training each son endured, the outcome would have been different...
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