Creed II. La leyenda de Rocky

The uber villain from the Rocky franchises returns. Whoever watched the original Rocky movies will not forget Ivan Drago - also known as Dolph Lundgren in real life with an amazing performance that is literally as 1 dimensional as possible and still or rather because of that is in one of the best Rocky movies made. So it makes sense for him to return here and to reprise his iconic role, training his son to take on Creed.

Dumbing down again (evil as evil can be), he brings gravitas to the movie. Which does not quite reach the heights of the first Creed, but still is quite enjoyable. Especially with all the history contained in the movie. This should be a worthy closure to the Rocky saga - but you never know, do you?

Adonis Creed is heavyweight champion of the world. To defend his title, he accepts a challenge from someone with a very close connection to Creed: Viktor Drago, the son of Ivan Drago, the man who killed Creed's father Apollo in the ring. Ivan is coaching his son and is determined to win the belt that Rocky took from him. Viktor Drago is unstoppable and Creed's odds against him are slim.

To my surprise, I enjoyed the first Creed movie. I was never a fan of the Rocky movies and I figured Creed was just going to be Rocky rebooted.

Turns out it was better than that. Rather than style over substance it had character depth and good plot development. The characters were engaging and the story was interesting.

Creed II continues in the same vein with an interesting plot and decently drawn characters. Maybe not as engaging as the first movie, but the intrigue of the David vs Goliath battle between Creed and Drago makes up for that.

Like the first Creed, this movie ties in with a Rocky storyline, so once again we have a refreshing of the Rocky story and a handing over to the new Rocky, Creed.

With Creed II I have a problem, it is that I want the focus to be on Rocky and Ivan Drago and not on their children. But I also know what it should be, but basically the meaning of the movie is the reunion between the two former boxers, therefore the rest takes a backseat. I know it would have been counterproductive but I would have liked a more tense atmosphere between the two of them and perhaps, also, some clean fists to liven up the plot. But hey, in the end Rocky is given closure and I think that's where the saga should have ended, no more, no less. Everything that comes later will inevitably be of lower quality due to the lack of the franchise's alma mater. Otherwise it is an entertaining movie and one that Rocky fans will love.

I paid half price to see this, and felt I paid for what I saw. For instance, it's predictable. There was quite a few scenes that did nothing for progressing the movie. I wondered why they moved Adrian's grave to a new location. I wondered why they didn't make Drago's ex wife (Bridgette) walk over to Apollo's wife and say good luck like she did before, only this time she could have told her to fk off? I wondered why Rocky was telling D to not fight Drago when Rocky didn't exactly the same thing to avenge Apollo's death? The movie was dry and soulless. The music could have been inspiring in moments to move you along. Father Drago could have been a lot more human and aggressive than just plain angry and silent. They rushed this movie.

This movie is not as good as the first Creed. It felt like a remake of Rocky 3 and was just too formulaic. However what made the movie for me was the final scenes where my appreciation of the movie changed by simply seeing the final round from the perspective of the Dragos and the aftermath of the fight with the Drago's.

Adonis is done for, his story arc is ove and I don't want there to be more for him. He is happy and complete. Rocky's story is now done too. But Ivan and Viktor Drago were the only interesting people in this movie. And I simply want to see what happens to them both now after this ending.

I want to see them pick up the pieces and be successful. They've earned it after the ending which was unheard of in a movie of this type.

Please Sly and Dolph make it happen.