Creed II Review

      In light of the success of Creed two years ago, producer Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and director Steven Caple Jr. came together to deliver a big-time sequel in Creed II. 

     The film which stars Michael B. Jordan, Tessa Thompson and Sylvester Stallone starts with Adonis Creed (Jordan) fighting for the heavyweight championship. After being crowned as a champion, the boxer finds himself being challenged by Vitor Drago who is played by Florian Munteanu. Creed, now faced with the history of his father, has to choose whether he will fight and try to beat Drago, which his father could not do. 

     This film is well produced and holds a lot of flashy moments. The film seems to be inconsistent with what it wants to be and seems caught up in the hype of itself. Though the film is cohesive, it juggles a lot and asks viewers to care about things that they did not ask to care for. 

     The only reason why the “care” bait works is because the things that are going on in Adonis Creed’s life are relatable. Though a film is supposed to be relatable, it is important that the film has merit behind it. It is important that viewers care for the characters based on the story. 

     Nevertheless, the film was not aiming for character analysis, but rather to entertain and that is exactly what it does. The stakes were high and the drama was riveting. The training montages were fun and not overbearing. The fight scenes were fast paced and entertaining as well. The music, which was mainly composed by Mike-Will-Made-It and Ludwig Goransson, was very complimentary towards the mood of the film and the songs themselves are worthy of a listen on their own. 

     The biggest criticism of this film was that it exuded “blockbuster” throughout the film. It never once made you forget that this is a big movie and everyone in the movie is big as well. None of the big movie stars felt like their characters. It was just Michael B. Jordan fighting and Tessa Thompson supporting him. The only person that seemed to be their character was Stallone playing Rocky and that is probably because he’s been that character for decades. Everything was borderline corny, but it was just entertaining enough to keep the attention.  

     Overall, this is a family movie that caters to just about anyone who wants to watch a decent movie. The music is good, the acting is good, and a lot of the scenes are masterful even though they are a bit flashy. The actors are a little too big for their roles now, but that is exactly why people will go to see Creed II.