One of my favorite things in film is when an actor has the year. When a movie star is born before our eyes, or an established star proves they still have the juice. Ideally the year involves a good mix of arthouse fare and blockbuster crowd-pleasers. Barbara Stanwyck in 1941. Humphrey Bogart in 1948. Sidney Poitier in 1967. Tom Hanks in 1993. Jamie Foxx in 2004. Jessica Chastain in 2011. Oscar Isaac in 2015. Lupita Nyong’o in 2019.
Jonathan Majors is having his year. With acclaimed performances in Sundance standout Magazine Dreams and MCU entry Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania (disappointing though the rest of the film was) already under his heavyweight belt, the 33-year-old has added to his impressive 2023 résumé with an electric turn in Creed III.
The latest installment in the Creed series and the ninth overall in the Rocky franchise, Creed III marks the directorial debut of star Michael B. Jordan. Here Jordan turns in his best performance in years and proves himself a capable filmmaker — and even so, he nearly has the film stolen out of his hands by Majors.
The film picks up after Jordan’s Adonis Creed has reached the mountaintop following the events of Creed II. He has accomplished everything he can in boxing, and has retired from fighting to focus on running his gym and promoting other boxers. His family life is finally stable. Enter Majors’ Damian “Diamond Dame” Anderson, a close childhood friend of Adonis’ who just completed a nearly two-decade prison sentence. Majors shuffles his way into the film one revelation at a time before fully lighting the screen on fire when his motivations become clear.
The film has to go out of its way to show us that, actually, Damian is the antagonist by having him commit a borderline heinous act to keep us from outright cheering for him over a comparably bland lead — similar to Jordan’s own fascinating, complex and scene-stealing performance as Killmonger in Black Panther. Jordan nevertheless brings a lot to the film in his performance. He injects a raw sense of emotion that harkens back to the first iteration of Creed — something that was absent the last time around. Adonis’ scenes with Tony “Duke” Evans, played by Jordan’s The Wire co-star Wood Harris, are especially poignant as a sort of full-circle moment for his career. Who doesn’t want to see Wallace and Avon on screen together again?
Jordan also holds his own behind the camera. The boxing sequences have a muscular beauty that borders on abstract — they get within sniffing distance of Martin Scorsese’s iconic and influential Raging Bull, even if they don’t necessarily pack the same brutal punch as those of the 1980 classic. By the time the inevitable third-act training montage kicks into high gear, Jordan has proven he can direct a set piece.
As with Creed II, impressive filmmaking and committed performances are held back to an extent by a thin script. At just under two hours, Creed III feels lean compared to most recent franchise outings, but even so, you might find yourself wishing some story elements were either more fleshed-out or dropped altogether.
But if you enjoyed the first two films, or even if you just miss the days when a pair of movie stars squaring off in a literal or metaphorical ring was all a film needed to be successful, then Creed III is worth a trip to the local multiplex.
