It’s a knockout
Michael B. Jordan scores as director & star of 'Creed III'
How on Earth did Michael B. Jordan star in “Creed III” and also direct it? Did he do push-ups in his sleep? “Creed III” is “Rocky” all over again if “Rocky” were a bad guy. These “Creed” films (the first was cowritten and directed by Ryan Coogler of “Black Panther” fame) have reexamined “Rocky” from the point of view of Apollo Creed, the character, who was killed off in “Rocky IV” and played in the original “Rocky” (1976) by the talented and charismatic Carl Weathers. Jordan once again plays Adonis “Donnie” Creed, the son of Apollo Creed from an extramarital affair.
The story opens with a scene reminding us that Adonis Creed spent his youth in a “group home,” where he was physically abused by an older man and befriended by an older boy named Damian Anderson played as an adult by Jonathan Majors of the current release “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania.” After serving 18 years in prison, Damian reappears in Donnie’s life and the life of Donnie’s wife Bianca (Tessa Thompson) and young boxing enthusiast and hearing-impaired daughter Amara (Mila Davis-Kent), Damian demands to be given a shot at a championship fight.
“Creed III” is about the mistakes of our youth coming back to haunt us. As young people, Adonis and Damian came across the man who abused them in front of a liquor store. Donnie beats him down, while Damian pulls a gun. The police arrive. Donnie escapes, while Damian is busted and sent to prison.
We learn later that Donnie’s adoptive mother and Apollo’s widow Mary Anne Creed (Phylicia Rashad) withheld Damian’s letters from prison from Donnie, who did not visit his friend. Apparently, Damian, a Golden Gloves winner as a young man, trained in prison to become a professional boxer when he got out. Like the recently retired Adonis, Damian will soon be too old to have a shot at the title. We all know where “Creed III “is headed. Sylvester Stallone has said that he is not in “Creed III” because he did not like where the filmmakers were taking the story, namely to a darker, less sentimental place. He is, however, a producer of the film, like Jordan and Coogler. Majors does a fine job of making Damian, the film’s antagonist, more complex and dangerous than he first appears. Donnie forces trainer Duke (an excellent Wood Harris) to use Damian as a sparring partner at Adonis’ gym. Damian is a disaster, getting angry when he gets hit and trying to hurt his fellow fighters. But Damian gets his title shot at the Crypto.com Arena in Downtown L.A. against champion Felix Chavez (Jose Benavidez), setting up the inevitable showdown. Donnie feels terribly guilty for not getting caught along with Damian. He is tormented by guilt. After all, while Donnie got all the breaks that were coming to him, Damian was locked up in prison, bleeding away years of his life.
Majors of TV’s “Lovecraft County” has an MFA from Yale and is certainly making his mark. Even at his most villainous, his Damian has a sympathetic, if not likable glint in his eye. Jordan gives Creed the intensity and likability we expect from the actor, even if he is stuck with the good guy role. Benavidez and Selenis Leyva are also fine as a mother-son, boxermanager team. We get the training montage out of “Rocky IV.” Jordan ups the ante on Rocky by pulling a small airplane in a harness. Jordan also makes some strong choices as a director during the big showdown fight, showing us his inner Martin Scorsese. “Rocky”-like trumpets blare. In “Creed III,” life is a championship fight, again.
(“Cree III” contains sports violence and profanity)