Review: Creed III
After dominating the boxing world, Adonis Creed has been thriving in both his career and family life. When childhood friend and former boxing prodigy Damian resurfaces after serving a long sentence in prison, he is eager to prove that he deserves his shot in the ring. The face off between former friends is more than just a fight. To settle the score, Adonis must put his future on the line to battle Damian--a fighter who has nothing to lose.
Michael B Jordan, Jonathan Majors & Tessa Thompson.
Creed III is the third instalment in the Creed trilogy & if the series was to end here, what a fantastic way to go out. Following the personally disappointing sequel to the brilliant first Creed, I was rather hesitant going into it, especially due to the film being Michael B Jordan’s directorial debut. As well as the lack of Rocky moving forward in the narrative. Jonathan Majors joining the franchise couldn’t have been more perfectly timed, dominating the screen every time he’s in frame. And being the perfect personal antagonist to Creed that would rival those in the Rocky films.
The use of Majors character results in some powerful and resonant themes of guilt, trauma & facing the past head on, however far you have to go inside yourself to confront it. The use of flashbacks is handled really well & builds to a masterfully creative final fight that I’ll be thinking about for a long while. However, a certain plot point introduced in the first act is rather forgotten about, which is unfortunate as I would have loved it to thematically link with the other themes between our antagonist & protagonist, about using our words not our fists.
Michael B Jordan impresses with some gorgeous imagery & shot sequences that resonated with me for the rest of the film. The sound design accompanies this all well & sells each line and fist thrown. Along with the thrilling score that had heads bobbing in the theatre.
While all feels rather consistent throughout the runtime, I could help but feel rather letdown by its dialogue scenes. With such creative fight sequences & cinematography, the each dialogue exchanges felt rather basic and uninteresting, often using the same shot without switching it up to covey certain feelings. And, of course, with this is some awkward editing between characters and cuts between scenes that felt rather wonky.
All in all, Creed III is a fantastic addition to the Rocky franchise. While Rocky’s presence is certainly missed in some moments, Michael B Jordan does wonderfully with what he’s given and delivers both a great performance & a great directorial debut. The action will be something I’ll think about for a while.
