THINKING OUTSIDE THE BOX-ING RING
Creed is a fight flick for people who don’t like fight flicks
CREED
Starring: Michael B. Jordan, Sylvester Stallone, Tessa Thompson Director: Ryan Coogler Duration: 132 minutes
With just two big fight scenes separated by huge swaths of heartfelt romance and drama, the latest Rocky picture — Rocky VII by any other name — could well be the first boxing movie for people who don’t like boxing movies.
The subject this time out is not so much Rocky himself — at 69, Sylvester Stallone more and more resembles the side of beef he used to spar with in the first movie — but Adonis Creed, son of the Italian Stallion’s former nemesis and later friend, Apollo Creed.
A well-crafted opening scene, set in 1998, establishes Creed Jr. as a troubled kid — smart, goodhearted but a bruiser, too. In the present day, living under the name Donny Johnson, he quits a promising financial career and a ridiculously opulent Los Angeles lifestyle provided by his adoptive mother (Phylicia Rashad) and moves to Philadelphia, looking for inspiration and training from Rocky himself.
Yep, the kid has boxing in his blood, some of which we’ll get to see spilled in the ring before the movie’s two-plus hours are over. But first he has to bond with the old guy, after Rocky reluctantly agrees to train him. Also, he falls for local songstress Bianca (Tessa Thompson).
What makes Creed work as well as it does is the same thing that made the first Rocky the sleeper hit it was in 1976: Writer Aaron Covington and writer/director Ryan Coogler (Fruitvale Station) pay as much attention to what goes on outside the ring as within it.
So yes, we get several training montages, but the best of them combines footage of Adonis and shots of Rocky embroiled in his own fight against time, which he notes wryly remains undefeated.
Adonis Creed is played by Michael B. Jordan, whom critics loved so much in Fruitvale Station that they were willing to forgive him an appearance in this summer’s Fantastic Four. He, too, seems to have shaken off that dud, and turns in an excellent performance as a young man trying to cast off the shadows of the past.
But, of course, he’ll have to fight his way to the top, against a variety of comers who are helpfully accompanied by onscreen credits that list their physical statistics, nicknames and boxing records.
Adonis’s chief opponent is “Pretty” Ricky Conlan, played by actual Liverpool boxer Tony (Bomber) Bellew. But as thrilling as that climactic fight scene is, it’s almost overshadowed by the technical prowess of an earlier match, in which two rounds of boxing are portrayed in a single, uncut shot. It’s a breathtaking use of the long take technique.
There’s a weird real-life overlap at play in Creed. We see tourists in Philadelphia visiting the statue of Rocky, which Stallone donated to the city in 1982 and has been moved several times on the whims of city officials who are unsure whether it’s a prop, an homage or an advertisement.
Rocky himself climbs those stairs once again, though the film shows admirable restraint in holding off playing the Rocky theme until the 12th round, as it were. And Stallone, who has now lived with the character for more than half his life, steps back into him as easily as one shrugs on a favourite old sweater.
Rest assured, Creed is a worthy addition to the franchise.