Creed III

• Directed and Produced by Michael B. Jordan (Directorial Debut)
• February 9, 2023 (Mexico City) / March 3, 2023 (US)

Adonis Creed comes face to face with a childhood friend who was also a boxing prodigy.

I have not been thoroughly enamored with the previous two Creed films. Mostly because of their connection to the Rocky films. On their own they are not bad, but in comparison to ANY of the Rocky films they are inferior.

While not without its flaws, Creed III is a big step up from the first two. Perhaps it is because the character of Rocky is MIA from this story and this is not trying to support itself in part on that character’s deserved legacy. He is not even a thought in this movie. He was important to Adonis previously but doesn’t even get a picture on the wall here. Yikers!

Speaking of missing people, this is quite possibly the first mention of Apollo Creed’s other children that I have heard in the Creed films. Seriously. I don’t think in the first two films they got mentioned or even seen. They do not need to be major characters, but Mama Creed (Phylicia Rashad) does not even appear to be aware of them.

Speaking of her kids, where are they? Mom had a stroke before the movies and she has another one during the film but they’re not even factors. Really? You cannot cast some actors to at the minimum look sad? It’s been a sticking point for me with each of these movies, but this looks to be the last time it will be a real story issue. Anywho…

Michael B. Jordan’s back as Adonis Creed. Without Rocky, Adonis has to carry dealing with the issues of the story himself. As issues go though the ones he faces are rather minor. He could walk away from the situation and be just fine in his retirement. In the story Adonis is no underdog trying to overcome the odds. He is just settling a beef that he could ultimately ignore. The stakes are very low for him when you boil it all down.

There is a tepid subplot in Creed III about Adonis and Bianca’s daughter getting in a fight at school where he eventually starts to secretly train her but it really goes nowhere. While certainly not a major element it adds nothing to the story aside from a cute father/daughter moment in the ring at the end of the movie.

His big struggle is all feelings and learning how to express and deal with his emotions. It is a great deal of armchair therapy but as said before his issues are not so great that things would not be fine if he walked away from the irritants in his life. Even the issues with his wife are very minimal.

Bianca (Tessa Thompson) is the one who helps him through this emotional journey and come to terms with his feels. She is less a character and more a plot device for the male character to become better. Thompson doesn’t seem to be bothered to be there like she does in most projects. Not entirely anyway.

Jonathan Majors as Damian “Diamond Dame” Anderson stole the show and outshined everyone he performed with. His performance as Donnie’s (what a bad nickname in this case) makes this film. I was more interested in his story than anything Adonis had to deal with. His personal issues in real life aside, Damian was an intriguing villain. Majors was absolutely mesmerizing.

Dame was crafty and manipulative with a clear plan from the start once it is revealed. He worms his way into his position and manipulates events to get exactly what he wants. He was a crafty villain that went complete a-hole once he no longer needed to pretend. Adonis, despite knowing this guy, was completely clueless. Admittedly they had not seen each other in 18 years but you would think based on the flashbacks he might have some inkling.

The boxing elements do not mirror the dramatic elements. They break up the drama rather than visualize it or move it forward. They are there to spice up the movie as well as to remind us that we are indeed watching a boxing film. Not bad but ultimately superfluous.

One thing that gets me is that in the Rocky films the fight was a culmination of the conflict and how things were actually settled. In this film Adonis wins the fight but his issues with Damian are settled with a heartfelt talk afterwards in a locker room. What is the point of the fight? At least from a narrative perspective.

Without Majors this would have been largely okay. Nobody is terrible but nobody is that good either. Jordan’s first outing as a director is handled competently but not really engaging. What made this movie was Majors. His scenes made me want to get to the next he was in even if I had to wade through some less than stellar stuff.

Creed III I think is probably the better film of the trilogy so far. It benefits mostly from having no Rocky in it and a great performance by Jonathan Majors. I won’t recommend it being unimpressed with the others but if you find yourself watching you will not be disappointed.