Three years ago, I was delighted to see that Creed, a continuation of the Rocky series, “feels natural and organic, not forced by the dictates of movie franchises.” I can’t say the same about Creed II, which seems very much forced by the dictates of movie franchises, nearly to the point of parody. If Ryan Coogler, writer and director of Creed, gave us world heavyweight boxing champion Adonis (Michael B. Jordan: Black Panther), son of legendary fighter Apollo Creed, then what other option is there but for the sequel to pit Adonis against Russian up-and-comer Viktor Drago (Florian Munteanu), son of Apollo’s nemesis, Ivan Drago (Dolph Lundgren: Hail, Caesar!), who actually killed Apollo in the ring (in Rocky IV)?
Coogler does not return here, and II is the worse for it: the movie tries to take up Coogler’s mantle of smartly and unsentimentally examining male emotion and men’s relationships with one another, but it doesn’t know quite what to do with them, either the emotions or the men. Contrasting the caring and deep friendship between Adonis and his sometime trainer, constant advisor Rocky Balboa (Sylvester Stallone: Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2) with the ugly, aggressive toxicity between Viktor and Ivan — father trains son, and has infected him with rage and hate — is a good first punch to throw, even if the Russians are almost cartoonishly awful people. But the film keep tossing away opportunities to outright reject damaging emotions and ideas, including also Adonis’s contention that he can “rewrite history” by defeating Viktor, and his sense that somehow his father’s death is a reflection on him. Instead, II fights hard to have its criticism of aggression and toxicity while embracing the same as well. As if it cannot conceive of a movie about athletes that isn’t built on damaged men who wouldn’t have their lives any other way.
And so Creed II feels very much like many movies we’ve seen before: competently enough presented by director Steven Caple Jr. (this is his second feature), beautifully performed again by Stallone and Jordan (as the first movie was), but nevertheless without much fresh or new to say. There isn’t even a technical knockout here. At best, Creed II achieves a draw with a genre path that is already extremely well worn.
see also:
• Rocky (review)
• Rocky Balboa (review)
• Creed movie review: the boxing ring of truth
I enjoyed it, though I agree with your critique. At the very least the beautifully-shot training montage is one of the best in the franchise, as is the score (both the R&B/hip-hop tracks, which you’ve linked to, and the Ludwig Goransson orchestral soundtrack, which is a separate album). More excellent workout tunes to exercise to! :-)
It’s notable that Stallone has a big writer’s credit on this one, so a lot of the film unfortunately dwells on Rocky missing his departed loved ones, reflecting on his career, and passing the torch — as you say, well-worn ground covered by at least the last two movies, that we didn’t really need to see again.
– spoilers –
Given the premise of the film, I thought a big piece that was missing, and yet obviously needed, was a scene of Adonis actually confronting Ivan, the man who killed his father. They may have exchanged a few sharp words at the press conference (I don’t recall exactly) but I really think there was a missed opportunity to have a substantial dramatic conversation.
I found the Dragos’ storyline to be actually more compelling than Adonis and Rocky’s. I don’t know if I’m reading too much into Florian Munteanu’s (minimal) acting, but I thought Viktor came across more resentful/fearful of his father than actually aggressively hating Adonis, and I wanted to see more of that father/son dynamic play out. I felt more sorry for Viktor than afraid of him.
And you said you were disappointed there wasn’t even a technical knockout, but I thought the way the match ended was significant for Ivan’s arc, and could be read as a response to previous films. In the Creed-Drago fight in Rocky IV, Apollo forbids Rocky from throwing in the towel (thus leading to his own death); in the final match in the first Creed, Adonis forbids Rocky to do the same (and Rocky again gives in, despite his misgivings). Here, in contrast — and despite a lifetime of being conditioned to prize victory above everything, and being shunned by his society for failing to achieve it — Ivan actually does throw in the towel to save his son from further battering. He (tearfully!) consoles Viktor by saying “it’s alright,” and is later seen jogging/training alongside him instead of prodding him by driving behind him — baby steps to detoxifying their relationship, and humanizing Ivan himself. Rocky is always saying there are things more important than winning, but it’s possibly Ivan who learns this lesson best.
I meant that metaphorically, as pertains to the story, not the matches themselves!
Ah, okay, I see. :-)