A troubled young man, attempting to make a name for himself in the world of boxing, patiently courts a reserved young woman in his off time. He begs a retired boxer to train him, and their first few sessions include chasing chickens in the back alley behind the gym. His big break comes on the heels of a champion looking to make a payday against an overmatched opponent with a gimmick fans can get behind.
Sound familiar? For fans who have patiently awaited the release of Creed since the rousing trailers first appeared months ago, there was a nagging feeling behind the anticipation. Would this sly continuation of the Rocky saga revamp the franchise for a new generation, or would it just be a rehash of the original film (which rehashed itself in sequel after sequel to varying degrees)?
Michael B. Jordan stars as Adonis, the product of an affair that boxer Apollo Creed (Carl Weathers, seen only in clips) had during his reign as champ. Rescued from the foster system by Apollo's widow (Phylicia Rashad), he hides the beginnings of his pugilist career from his disapproving new mother, taking on the assumed last name of Johnson while battling in Mexican dive bars. After an embarrassing KO from a much more skilled opponent, Adonis packs up and leaves Los Angeles for Philadelphia to find his father's best friend and greatest opponent — Rocky Balboa (Sylvester Stallone) — in hopes of talking the retired champ into training the young blood for championship contention.
It's almost a cliché at this point to say that each new starring role for Jordan will be the one to make him a superstar. Since his breakout roles in 2012's Chronicle and 2013's Fruitvale Station, he has appeared in films that didn't properly harness his obvious talent. Both the comedic dud That Awkward Moment and the comic-book franchise nonstarter Fantastic Four managed to squander his natural charisma, surrounding him with milquetoast co-stars and muffling his comic gifts in the process.
But here Jordan reunites with Fruitvale writer-director Ryan Coogler, who also co-wrote the script (with Aaron Covington), and the results are tremendous. Creed recaptures the urban underdog heart that brought the original's audiences to their feet, with a bracing dose of contemporary grit. While those who show up for the boxing scenes will not be disappointed, the film's strength lies in its more intimate, character-driven scenes: Adonis' struggles for legitimacy within the boxing gym scene; the tender beginnings of his romance with a young musician slowly going deaf (Tessa Thompson).
Best of all are the scenes detailing the growing bond between Adonis and Rocky, a business relationship that deepens into a loving familial one between mentor and student. Coogler's handling of these vignettes is so attentive, and the actors are so good — Jordan filling in the script's deficiencies with star power, Stallone signaling a late-career rebirth as a nuanced character actor — that they all but overshadow the action inside the ring. Their rapport makes the movie, though it's not preposterous that some may complain this isn't the action-packed flick they expected.
But there are dozens of subpar post-Rocky boxing movies blatantly written around fight scenes that would sell the films to nondiscriminating viewers. Creed remembers what made the original Rocky so involving: We have to care about the characters before they step into the ring to care what happens once they do. Here we get to witness two heavyweight talents coming to fruition — Coogler and Jordan — and a stirring return to form from old-pro Stallone. They've earned their shot, and the immensely satisfying Creed doesn't win on points.
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