Creed II (2018)

 

The first 'Creed' was a great piece of entertainment. It had heart, it had the right idea and there were just enough references and nostalgic moments peppered throughout to appeal to fans of the Rocky-franchise, yet not so much that it couldn't stand on its own two feet. 'Creed II' is also a lot of fun, but they did go more for the nostalgia idea and now you get something that is so linked to 'Rocky IV' that it helps immensely if you know that film rather well. 

Not that this is a bad film in any respect, because it isn't. But if you have no idea what happened in 'Rocky IV', this one is a bit tricky to follow, let alone get an emotional response.

When the story starts, we pick up a while after Adonis' fight against Ricky Conlan, which he did lose, but he got noticed. So now he is actually boxing for the heavyweight title against Danny Wheeler and winning. Life is flush for Adonis, as his relationship with Bianca is going great, he made a ton of money and he gets to do what he enjoys doing, namely boxing. 

But in the Ukraine, someone from the past is stirring...

Okay, it's Ivan Drago. But it's hard not to guess. Ivan has fallen from grace since his loss to Rocky and has been grooming his son Viktor to be an indestructible killing machine. Of course, a promotor smells money with a rematch Creed-Drago, as it was Ivan who killed Apollo. Because Adonis is riding high on his victory, he accepts, but Rocky can't support him as he knows Adonis has lost his edge, whereas Viktor has nothing to lose. 

So Adonis gets his ass handed to him, but Viktor gets disqualified. From here on, you know the tale: Adonis doesn't know what to do with himself, while Viktor is becoming more and more eligible to be champion, until eventually, Adonis needs to find his 'eye of the tiger' and face off against Viktor once more. 

So yes, a lot of elements from 'Rocky 3' and 'IV' have been brought back. Yet, it still works. If you want to call it a rehash, you could, but that doesn't take away from the fact that this film is still very entertaining, even if you're not that familiar with the franchise or with boxing. It's a nice touch that they brought back Dolph Lundgren and even Brigitte Nielsen for a bit part. The main difference between this one and the past iteration of the Drago-Creed storyline is that Viktor is shown to be a kid who's really had to bust his balls to get anywhere. He and his dad have a hard life and the best scene to set-up that he isn't some 80s monster is the one where Viktor truly realises that no one, not even his mother, gave a shit about him or his dad and they only show up when Viktor is chalking up the victories. And in a reversal of the events of 'Rocky IV', Ivan does the right thing at the end, choosing his son over glory. 

Once again, it's the characters that make this one good. Michael B Jordan is excellent, as is Tessa Thompson, who gets more to do with her arc. Stallone of course nails Rocky and Lundgren is a lot more sympathetic as Ivan Drago this time around. He used to be this one-dimensional wrecking ball, not anymore. Florian Munteanu who plays Viktor is mostly the big, silent gruff guy, but the scene where he breaks down in tears is surprisingly good. They don't give him more of a personality, unfortunately, but you can't win them all. You even get a send-off (of sorts) where it is implied that Rocky won't be back, but Hollywood is fickle, of course. 

There's no telling whether or not 'Creed' will get as many sequels as 'Rocky', but the two films we do have, are both very good. The first one is undoubtedly the superior film, but this one isn't half bad either.