Rematch of the day

CREED II

Time for a little more boxing drama – cue haymakers, angst and fightorientated wisdom – as the latest in the Rocky spin-off films gets back in the ring for a bout of pugilism, romance and global politics. And this time Rocky’s protégé, Adonis Creed (Michael B Jordan), gets to slug it out with a Russian fighter with links to his past.

The original Creed film was a surprise hit in 2015 and saw Sylvester Stallone nabbing a Best Supporting Actor Oscar nomination as his ageing fighter took on the mantle of trainer to an up-and-coming talent.

The first Creed saw Adonis ‘Donny’ Creed reach the top with the mumbling Rocky in his corner, and as the new film opens he is the WBC heavyweight champion. Now the ante is upped as Adonis must face Ukrainian Viktor Drago (the impressively named Romanian real-life boxer Florian ‘Big Nasty’ Munteanu), who happens to be the son of Ivan Drago (Dolph Lundgren), the Cold

War fighter who killed Adonis’s father.

Long-time fans will remember the dark times in 1985’s Rocky IV when the bludgeoning Ivan (yes, a younger Lundgren) killed Creed’s father (played by Carl Weathers) in the ring. Now Viktor – who happens to be trained by his dad – wants his shot at the title.

Naturally enough there has to be a dash of melodrama alongside the slugging, so as well as Rocky (the expected return of Stallone, who also co-scripted the film) offering more than a few homespun words of wisdom, Adonis has to juggle angst about whether or not he should take the fight to avenge his father.

At the same time, he’s worrying about the fact he and his partner Bianca (Tessa Thompson) are about to become parents and whether the baby might inherit deafness from her.

The movie might lack the style and subtlety of the first film, but it is good to see Stallone and Lundgren back on screen again, while Brigitte Nielsen – an ex-mrs Stallone, of course – also pops up for a cameo as Viktor’s mother.

There are also more than a few nicely staged boxing moments as Creed and the gargantuan Viktor go toe-to-toe.

Cert 12A Running time 130 minutes