Creed : L'Héritage de Rocky Balboa

Although young Michael B. Jordan has the title role in Creed the film really belongs to Sylvester Stallone. Sly joins an exclusive club of players like Bing Crosby, Paul Newman, and Al Pacino who got two Oscar nominations for playing the same role. In the case of Sly and Newman both aged naturally into the parts of Rocky Balboa and Eddie Felson. It's hard to believe that it has been 39 years since Stallone debuted Rocky Balboa. It's also 39 years between the nominations that Stallone got for Best Actor for Rocky and Best Supporting Actor for Creed.

But between that there have been several Rocky films over the years as Sly has developed more facets to the fighting Mr. Balboa of Philadelphia than I'm sure he even thought of when he debuted Rocky. It all really comes together with Creed.

But as for the story it seems that back when Apollo Creed was killed in that fight with that Russian steroid machine Dolph Lundgren in Rocky IV he had a dalliance that resulted in a post mortem birth of an illegitimate son who grew up to be Michael B. Jordan, character name of Adonis Johnson. Apollo's widow Phyllis Rashad took him out of foster care as his natural mother had died and raised him.

Jordan has an interesting dichotomy to deal with. He's his father's son and wants to make it in the fight game, but on his own as Adonis Johnson. He seeks his father's old friend and rival Rocky Balboa as a mentor and Rocky trains him for a title shot at the light heavyweight championship.

Rocky Balboa is not the most articulate movie hero ever developed, but he sure imparts a lot of wisdom to Jordan. Those scenes with Jordan are what got Sly Stallone that second Oscar nomination. Also Rocky has some personal crises of his own to deal with. These guys are of incalculable help to each other.

I really loved this film and how Stallone developed Rocky to this point. Like fine wine, Rocky gets better with age.

There's no other way to say it; Creed is a knockout.

From start to finish, this film exhilarates and crackles with brilliant on screen performances and masterfully directed fight sequences. It wholeheartedly captures what was so brilliant about the first film: the characters. Yes, I'll return to theaters to see the fights, but it's the characters, particularly Rocky and Adonis that truly captivated me from start to finish.

I can't say enough great things about writer/director Ryan Coogler. The way he masterfully captures the modern spirit of Philadelphia and the visceral tension of standing toe-to-toe with a man who wants to see you hit the ground is second to none. What stood out the most, however, was his writing of Rocky Balboa. The subtle nuances that we love about the Italian Stallion are effortlessly worked into the script and flow like water from Sly's crooked mouth. Speaking of, the script would be for naught if it weren't for the beautiful performances by Michael B. Jordan and Sylvester Stallone. I'm not ashamed to say I was brought to tears at various parts of this film.

I'm just so happy to say that this film wasn't a disappointment. This film exceeded my wildest hopes of a 7th Rocky installment and had me feeling amped up for hours after the credits rolled. I can't wait to see more from the talent involved in this film, and I proudly endorse and recommend Creed to Rocky fans and film fans alike.

It's not about winning, it's about hard work, daily dedication and never giving up because new opportunities will come. This is the biggest lesson I take from the Rocky movies, a lesson that is valid for our lives, the person who can absorb this mentality will probably have a lot of success in life.

About the film, the performances are good, the plot is not that deep (and it doesn't need to), sets, soundtrack, action scenes and very accurate fighting.

That's it, a simple film (but not generic) that fulfills its role very well, a good sequel to a saga of legendary films.

Continuing my plan to watch every Sly movie in order, I come to Creed.

Plot In A Paragraph: Rocky Balboa serves as a trainer and mentor to Adonis Johnson, the son of his late friend and former rival Apollo Creed.

Long rumoured, Sly publicly turned this movie down on more than one occasion. And I was in the camp that was glad he did. I didn't want anything ruining the ending to Rocky Balboa, which for this Zoner was perfect. However a few flops at the domestic box office later, and it's back to Rocky.

And it is the smartest decision he made in years, winning the Golden Globe and taking him all the way to the Oscars. (I still say he should have won)

Whilst I enjoyed Creed immensely, I can see both sides of the argument regarding this movie.

I'll get what I didn't like out of the way first. Whilst I loved the nods and references, I thought it literally borrowed TOO heavily from the first movie from me (Just a few....The champs opponent breaking something prior to the fight, and the Champ needing an opponent quick, and said opponent is chosen because of his name. The fighters needing separating at the end of the second round, A 14th round knock down with the champ turning his back to celebrate as the hero gets up, the result of the fight)

It undid all the Rocky/Robert relationship restored by the end of Balboa. How did the vultures of the gutter press, not pick up on how sick Rocky was looking?? And did Robert not see any pics of his Dad in the papers or on TV, and think "He's not looking too well, I'll give him a call"

I didn't relate to Adonis (nobody's fault) but when Rocky wasn't on screen, especially early on, I wasn't that interested, and was tempted to reach for the remote, to run it forward to the next time Rocky was featured.

As someone who has lost close (TOO many) family members and loved ones to Cancer, and been with them all the way through it, the scenes of Rocky receiving his treatment, struggling to the toilet and needing to be tucked in, struck me far TOO close to home as I thought they may.

Tony Bellew was intimidating enough, but thought his physique lacked, and he almost looked fat next to Jordan.

Now on to the good.

Sly is fantastic, and is totally worthy of his Golden Globe win and Oscar Nomination!! It's defiantly an Oscar worthy, so for him not to win, was guttering!! He was the best thing in the movie, and when he wasn't on screen, I found myself thinking "When is Rocky coming back in to it" Although I think his Balboa performance, was better (the "It wasn't supposed to be like this Paulie" scene in the meat house and the "It ain't about how hard you hit" Speech come to mind) and it could be argued Copland is too!!

I thought all the cast were good, especially Jordan, and I really liked Rashad, even if she was under used!! (I thought it would be her at the hotel room door, the night before the fight, meaning Rocky finally called her)

I loved it when Gonna Fly Now kicked in during the start of the final round.

I know it's not to everyone's taste, but I enjoyed the score, and all the fight scenes were well shot too!! Though I'm not quite sure how it was a split decision. He seemed well beat to me.

The scenes that I cried at 1 When Rocky got the news 2 "Put everything that was good in my life in a bowl" 3 seeing Rocky struggle during the training montage 4 "You're a Creed and I love you kid" and the Rocky music kicked in 5 seeing Rocky struggling up the steps.

It was nice to see Sly playing Rocky again, and it is a very touching movie that reduced me to tears more then once. It's a well made, entertaining movie, and I do enjoy it. But I don't feel the need to revisit this movie that often. I think my ten your old son summed it up best. When I suggested watching this, he questioned why I wanted to watch it, so I asked why not?? And he replied "If I want to watch a Rocky movie, I'll watch one of the real ones"

As a boxing movie Creed packs a heavyweight punch.

Sylvester Stallone (as the film's producer) has covered a lot of miles with his Rocky legend, most recently with his 2006 Rocky Balboa. As such I had thought there was little milk left in the cash cow, but "Creed" proves me wrong. This time, with Stallone's advancing years, he wisely doesn't stretch credibility by having Rocky Balboa as the center of the pugilism, but hands the baton to young contender Adonis ("Donnie") Creed (Michael B Jordan). Adonis is the illegitimate son of Apollo Creed, Rocky's protagonist and later close friend in the first four Rocky films.

Donnie is a kid from the wrong side of the tracks with a big chip on his shoulder and a reputation for finding trouble with his fists. Brought back from the brink by Apollo's wife (a touching performance by Phylicia Rashad) Donnie can't escape his family legacy and seeks Balboa's help to make it in the ring, using his own adopted name. Balboa's help leads to a number of 'traditionally' brutal Rocky-style encounters in the ring.

I must admit I don't normally 'go' for boxing films like this, but this is extremely well done. All of the boxing training is gritty and believable and the actual bouts, particularly the classic finale, is suitably thrilling and a technical masterpiece of camera-work (hats off to cinematographer Maryse Alberti, who also filmed "The Wrestler" so is no stranger to the ring).

A real surprise is just how good Stallone is in the role. There are scenes where Stallone really has to act – particularly an emotional locker-room scene when Rocky faces up to his own personal crisis – and any jokes about Sylvester "Expendables" Stallone's acting abilities are forgotten. Michael B Jordan is also a great find and a name to watch. He has to cover a wide range during the film and succeeds admirably.

Tessa Thompson, impressive in last year's "Selma", makes a similarly positive impression here playing the love interest in the form of songstress Bianca, with a difficult future ahead of her.

"Creed" is a love letter to the old Rocky films, and – with this quality, and likely success – the start of a whole new generation of films seems probable. The respect it shows to the originals is characterized by a moving tribute to the classic 'Philadelphia steps' scene that brings a genuine lump to the throat. That being said, the film is a lot more 'street' for a new generation, with a soundtrack (by Swedish composer Ludwig Göransson) that mixes rap and hip-hop with more classic orchestral elements. Without outright plagiarism of Bill Conti's classic score, Göransson subtly weaves in some of Conti's themes, notably Adrian's theme, as well as coming up with his own "Fly Now"- equivalent musical high-point.

Impressive direction is by Ryan Cooglar in only his second feature film (after Fruitvale Station, also with Michael B Jordan). Cooglar also wrote the story and co-wrote the script. Without any spoilers, the story is delightfully 'un-Hollywood" by being unpredictable in where it goes. However, an area for criticism is that it took a few 'easy' short-cuts in places: a particular 'change of heart' in the film is way to glib and quick.

Finally, i would love to watch this film in a cinema in Liverpool, when the "hallowed turf" for a bout is revealed as being Everton's ground, Goodison Park….! Generations of Liverpool FC fans will be turning in their graves and I predict that cinemas in the city could become scenes of the worst hand to hand combat since the finale of Kingsman!

(Please see the graphical version of this review at bob-the-movie- man.com. Thanks.)