Review: Creed II

Adonis Creed (Michael B. Jordan) wins the title, and finds himself immediately targeted by a familiar and hated name: Drago. This time it’s up-and-coming Viktor Drago (Florian Munteanu), son of hardened Russian boxer Ivan Drago (Dolph Lundgren). Ivan of course being the terrible (shut up) killer of Adonis’ father Apollo Creed in “Rocky IV”. Adonis’ mentor (and Ivan Drago’s conqueror) Rocky Balboa (Sly Stallone), thinks it would be a grave (literally) mistake for Adonis to take the fight. Meanwhile, Adonis’ squeeze Bianca is pregnant with their first child.

I rather enjoyed the first “Creed”, it was easily the best “Rocky” film since “Rocky III”. However, that’s obviously faint praise at the end there. I don’t think it entirely managed to fit both the Rocky and Creed characters’ stories into a fully comfortable whole to where it was a really good film. Part of that is due to the almost complete lack of threat/conflict in the form of an opponent for Jordan’s Adonis Creed. The other fighter was just some guy who turned up at the end, so it was a little hard to care. I also wish it didn’t follow so many familiar story beats from other “Rocky” films. However, I still managed to enjoy it, and particularly the performance by Michael B. Jordan in the lead. I was interested in seeing where a sequel might go, especially given the first film’s ending did not mirror the original “Rocky”. I was piqued somewhat when I learned that the plot would, in an echo of “Rocky IV”, focus on Adonis getting revenge for his father by taking on the son of infamous “Rocky IV” Cold War symbol Ivan Drago (Swedish-American Dolph Lundgren). “Rocky IV” was a mixed bag, but it seemed like a stellar idea to revisit those characters in the more mature-minded “Creed” world, without merely replaying old events but adding something to it all.

Well, my interest wasn’t sustained for very long in this thoroughly disappointing, overstuffed, and mostly uninvolving 2018 follow-up by director Steven Caple Jr. (who mostly comes from a TV and short film background) and writers Sly Stallone and Juel Taylor (a debut screenwriter who has previously worked in numerous capacities on film, especially as Sound Editor). There’s a lot of potential here, but it ends up being wasted in what is the second-worst “Rocky” film (if one is to consider it a part of the franchise) behind only the regrettable “Rocky V”. Yeah, even “Rocky Balboa” and “Rocky IV” are better films. If it weren’t for a rock-solid Dolph Lundgren, it might’ve been even worse. As is, there’s too much going on here for one film to deal with adequately, leaving none of the threads really being satisfying.

First of all, Rocky really shouldn’t be in this film at all. He ought to have died in the previous film, as they indeed set it up that way with his cancer diagnosis. Stallone just can’t help himself, he’s gotta make more and more sequels, and take on more than just a co-writing role. Unfortunately, aside from the inevitable “Heat”-esque confrontation with Lundgren’s Drago, everything Stallone says and does this time around feels like a repeat of the last film, minus the ill-health. He even visits Adrian’s grave yet again. You did that in the last movie, dude. We get it, Rocky would visit her quite often, doesn’t mean he needs to take us with him every damn time. I also think that, whilst having a love interest is important in this franchise (“Rocky” would be a much lesser film without the “Marty”-esque romance), giving Tessa Thompson’s character more beats to play this time out does nothing but clutter the narrative with hoary clichés and unwanted distractions. I was already sick of her after 10 minutes here. I get it, they didn’t want her to just be the meek, crying in the crowd Adrian equivalent (yet Thompson sports a beret at one point, just like Adrian did), but for purely pacing and narrative purposes, it probably would’ve been more beneficial than what we get. What we get results in so much clutter that early on when Adonis wins the title, and can scarcely believe it – I was confused too, because there was so much else going on in the film. It’s not just an issue early on though, as Thompson’s character even hippity-hops her lover to the ring for his big fight like she’s Kanye at his worst (The bulk of her supposed ‘music’ is that horribly auto-tuned nonsense that makes someone sound like a dying Walkman. Yep, showing my age there with that reference). I deplore boxing, but from what I’ve seen, I’m pretty sure that’s not something spouses really do in real-life boxing matches. Since “Rocky IV” gave us James Brown, why not get Bruno Mars (or whatever low-rent variation this film’s budget could afford) for this one? As is, it just feels like tacking it on to give an actress something to do, so she has more screen time rather than have something organic and authentic. It’s at the expense of credibility, pacing, and the meat of the story, which makes it utterly useless. It’s a small moment, so it might not bother you like it did me. However, make no mistake: Tessa Thompson and her character aren’t this film’s chief flaw, they’re simply a part of it: Narrative clutter. There’s so much focus on her and Adonis’ relationship early on that it leaves the central plot/drama of the film (i.e. The eventual fight) given short shift, after being introduced in distressingly low-key fashion. After 25 minutes this thing was struggling to even get off the ground.

The film would be nothing without Dolph Lundgren, and even with Stallone not bothering to give his character much of a grand entrance or character depth, Lundgren owns the screen in his every scene despite minimal dialogue. That’s partly because he’s a better actor now than he was in 1985, and the character is more interesting than it was in 1985, due to where life and time have taken him. The screenplay doesn’t make anywhere near as much of it as one would like, but when we do get a bit of focus on Drago, Lundgren makes it count. It would’ve been nice to see Drago now humbled after his disgrace in “Rocky IV”, but I actually kinda like that he’s still basically the same ice-cold jerk. It’s just that he’s now an ice-cold jerk who got embarrassed and wants to redeem his image and pride. His big scene with Stallone’s Rocky isn’t the diner scene from “Heat” in terms of star quality, tension, dialogue, and performance. However, it’s certainly this franchise’s equivalent and the best scene in the film. Lundgren actually thesps Sly off the screen. On the downside, Drago’s son doesn’t end up getting nearly enough focus to be an interesting threat/opponent. There’s also a distinct lack of stakes, as Creed wins the title early, won in the first film, wins by DQ at one point here too- Why should I bother to care about the final fight? That was a big misstep for me. Adonis is pretty much John Cena, Roman Reigns, and The Harlem Globetrotters rolled into one. So the film doesn’t even really improve over the first film on that level, either. That’s a shame, because Florian Munteanu is quite solid as Viktor.

Although the stakes largely missing from the prior film are set-up early here for some promise, they’re rendered ineffectual by the end. There was the potential for a great story in here somewhere. However, there’s too many characters to juggle, so that ultimately none of the characters are well-enough served. The outcomes of all of the fights don’t help the issue, either. Overall it’s quite dull, actually despite some solid performances.

Rating: C