POST Wrestling’s ROCKY reviews continue on Tuesday with the release of our “Creed” review.
Wai Ting and I will be reviewing the spinoff from the Rocky franchise chronicling Adonis Creed, the son of Apollo Creed.
The former World Heavyweight Champion Rocky Balboa serves as a trainer and mentor to Adonis Johnson, the son of his late friend and former rival Apollo Creed.
Leave us your feedback for the show, which will be released on Tuesday, March 23 for all Patrons.
Simply a brilliant film that’s really masterfully put together by Ryan Coogler. The direction in this film, particularly in the fight scenes, is top notch… as are the performances from Jordan, Thompson and Stallone. Even non-actor Tony Bellew does a great job as the antagonist and the climax at Goodison Park at the end of the film is truly thrilling, even on a rewatch.
It’s a minor travesty that this film didn’t get nominated for an Oscar, and in particular that Coogler wasn’t up for best director. The films up for contention that year were Spotlight, Bridge of Spies, Brooklyn, Big Short, Mad Max Fury Road, The Martian, The Revenant and The Room… and having seen all those films, Creed should definitely be in there instead of something like Bridge of Spies or Brooklyn.
How many of those films have you seen and do you agree it should be in there somewhere?
I dunno about you guys, but my expectations were beyond low for this, especially as Coogler’s career felt indicative of the way Hollywood functions now, picking up young filmmakers with one independent feature before they can truly develop their artistic voice, and folding them into franchise/IP land forever. However, Coogler overdelivered, and now feels like one of the most interesting American filmmakers of his generation. Unbelievable film.
MBJ should have been nominated for Best Actor at the Oscars, and I’m still annoyed about his snub. Meek Mill was still hurting from the public humiliation of his beef with Drake, but I’m still convinced that his voice being part of this unbelievable training montage was step one in his heroic comeback, culminating in his post-prison comeback.
PS. Is Tessa Thompson’s Philly accent good? I love her, but I dunno about it.
2015 was the year of the Rebootquel. You had the not so great Terminator: Genisys and Jurassic World, the nostalgia-heavy fun of Star Wars: The Force Awakens… and then you have the undeniable greatness of Mad Max: Fury Road and Creed.
Both Fury Road and Creed did the impossible. They came out with a healthy dose of skepticism attached to them. And both blew away critics and fans, and now sit firmly atop their respective franchises as arguably the best films or tied with earlier films as best.
Creed is a modern masterpiece. Much like Stallone managed to tap into a character who touched and connected and related with audiences alike in it’s time with Rocky - Ryan Coogler does the same thing for a whole new generation of movie goers with the character of Adonis Creed.
The “I’ve got to prove it - I’m not a mistake” moment still brings a tear to my eye. A perfectly realistic and concise moment that sums up Donnie’s motivation more than any other moment in the entire franchise for Rocky. It’s a personal reason for his fighting, and it’s summed up beautifully here.
Michael B. Jordan does the impossible in taking over the central “role” of the Rocky franchise, and manages to enter it in its seventh film - and leaves this entry wanting more. He follows the footsteps of past characters and breaths fresh new life into the world.
Finally - as Rocky enters a new position with this film as a supporting character, we can once again look at Stallone where he was and is in his career. Largely no longer a leading man, he’s accepted being a part of an ensemble (The Expendables franchise), and cameos (Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2). He’s a star and a legend who’s comfortable elevating others. Rocky has found his reason for being in Donnie. Stallone has found his motivation for continuing the franchise by giving a platform to storytellers like Coogler and Jordan.
Breathing new life into an iconic franchise seven films deep is no easy feat. In his only second overall film, Ryan Coogler knocked this one out of the park. Creed pleases Rocky fans, old and new alike, by sticking to its roots but branching out by positioning Rocky Balboa as the Mickey to Adonis Creed. Stallone and Jordan’s chemistry was electric, as well as Tessa Thompson. The fight scenes are so nuanced and the cinematography was entrancing, especially during Creed vs Sporino (which was shot in a single take!). I also loved the quick title cards of each fighter Adonis faces throughout the film and there’s just the right amount of nostalgia that it doesn’t overshadow the film’s aim to gear it towards a new generation of fans.
The ending on the iconic steps was poignant as it definitively left the franchise in very good hands.
(Side-note: seeing Wood Harris and Michael B. Jordan share a screen again brings me back to The Wire )
My favourite of the series and one of my favourite movies overall… however I might be biased this was also the first movie I saw of the series as I worked in a theatre and took a friend for free and then went back and watched the classics. I agree with everyone else that this film and Michael were robbed of some awards!
The Rocky saga is my favorite film series. I include the Creed films in that. Quick question: once they made this movie did they unofficially create the Rocky Cinematic Universe? Cuz if so, I need the Spider Rico disney+ show.
Creed is so unbelievably good. To me, the entire movie is building up to the “I gotta prove it” “prove what?” “I’m not a mistake” exchange. And good lord does that line hit hard. I remember the first time I showed this movie to my girlfriend. She doesn’t like Michael B Jordan(I’m still with her despite this) but she gave the movie a shot. When that line came around she just went “oh god” and started crying.
I don’t think there’s a thing I would change about this movie. To me it’s perfect.
I’ve enjoyed your guys’ review of the Rocky series as I’ve admittedly only ever watched Rocky Balboa prior to watching Creed. My dad is a gym rat and a boxer, so the Rocky movies were big in our house as kids which meant I just avoided them because they usually meant I didn’t get to watch tv as it was dad’s time on the tv.
I went into this movie cold, only knowing that it was a Michael B Jordan film and had never even seen a trailer for it.
This movie has since become a comfort film of mine.
I remember watching it thinking, “I’m glad they haven’t played the Rocky theme as they don’t really need it”, only to literally be sitting on the edge of my seat the minute you hear the theme start to play as Adonis is making his comeback.
I love the relationship that Adonis and Rocky have as Stallone being written for through the eyes of Ryan Coogler grounds him a bit more for me.
My only relationship to the character had been through what I’d seen in pop culture as even by the time I actually watched Rocky Balboa, only because the soundtrack featured a brand new Three 6 Mafia song, he was also playing the aging hero.
I loved this movie so much that I’ve never actually seen the sequel but look forward to finally watching it for the next review.
I’m a little late to the dance, but I just watched Creed last night, here are my thoughts.
Overall I really liked it, but the hype in this thread made me think I was about to watch an Oscar level masterpiece, and for me it wasn’t that.
I thought that it was a very strong story and that it made perfect sense to do this story with the “Adonis Johnson/Creed” character. I’m sure some people would have rather seen the story done with Rocky’s son given that the character was in the original movies, but that wouldnt have worked IMO. The character of Rockey Jr. wasnt one that really seemed like he would become a fighter, and then when you factor in the death of Sage Stallone, it would have felt awkward. With Adonis It made perfect sense given the storyline from the earlier movies where Apollo Creed trained Rocky after Mickey died. Also, when you factor in that they were able to give the lead role to a POC and have it make perfect sense from a storyline perspective, it thought that was pretty cool.
The bad, it kind of followed all your typical tropes for the type of move it was. Guy has a childhood where he struggled, guy has untapped potential, guy meets girl, guy falls in love, has has conflict with someone close to him, guys resolves conflict, guy fights and gets the moral victory despite not getting the ultimate win. A part of me wish I never saw the original movies, as in that final fight with Conlan I never for a second thought Creed would win, I knew the entire time they were going to tell the same story from Rocky 1 with some type of slight twist. My other issue, was it was a bit hard to suspend my belief that a guy with 1 pro fight could almost beat the #1 ranked fighter in the world in a 12 round fight (ie. not a TKO aka Serra/St. Pierre situation). I also wish the relationship between Creed and Bianca had a bit more depth, I think they could have cut a bit of the training montages and ideally slotted a few deeper conversations between the two.
Either way, this is me nitpicking, I did really like it and look forward to watching Creed 2. I definitely liked it more then Rocky Balboa and Rocky 5, Rocky 4 was one of my favorite movies of all time so nothing touches that, and I just dont remember 1-3 well enough to compare.
Haven’t heard the review yet, look forward to listening!
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