From Rocky to Creed: The Legacy Continues

From Rocky to Creed (2015)

*** (out of 4)

This hour long documentary is basically a promotional piece for the movie CREED but it also talks about the previous six films in the series. Several members of the series are interviewed including Sylvester Stallone, Irwin Winkler, Dolph Lundgren, Carl Weathers as well as the newcomers to the series, director Ryan Coogler and star Michael B. Jordan.

If you're a fan of the series then I'm going to guess that you've already seen countless other documentaries on the subject so you're really not going to learn anything new here. Once again we hear about how Sly was broke when he wrote the original movie and how he had to fight to get to star in it. We hear how all the sequels came into play and how the series was over after the disastrous part five.

Obviously the most interesting aspects are the discussions on CREED since this film hasn't already been documented to death. We get some great interviews with the director and two stars and you really get a great idea of what they were trying to go for as well as the hesitation that Stallone originally had.

Being one of my favorite film franchises of all-time, I've seen all the Rocky movies multiple times and figured I'd seen/heard most of the behind-the-scenes stuff too. Well, that was until I sat down to watch "From Rocky To Creed", which recaps the films in exciting fashion and shows new interviews with such figures as Stallone, Carl Weathers, Ryan Coogler, Michael B. Jordan, and even Dolph Lindgren!

Produced during the runup to the recent "Creed" film, this documentary succeeds on two major levels:

First, it is probably the best summation of the Rocky movies themselves that I have ever seen. Jordan provides great narration, while who better to pontificate on the films than Stallone himself, along with some of his high-profile co-stars.

The doc also provides some great behind-the-scenes moments as Stallone, Coogler, and Jordan sit down at certain points and reminisce over the filming of "Creed". It's so interesting to see how the Rocky character is now being passed on to another generation through this collaboration.

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed "From Rocky To Creed". Whether you've seen the movies a bajillion times (like myself) or are a bit fuzzy on the details and need a recap, this doc will suit both purposes.