Creed III – Surprising & Mature

My childhood nostalgia continues to mature. Growing up, the “Rocky Balboa” franchise was some of my favorite movies ever.  In scripting the title character of “Rocky”, Sylvester Stallone  created a character that resonated with so many, even to this day.  Sly plays a boxer who never had the opportunity to succeed, then was given an opportunity to fight the world heavyweight champion – Apollo Creed.  It could have ended there, however it did not end there.  Instead, we were given rocky II-VI, where Rocky fights opponents like Apollo Creed, Clubber Lang, and Ivan Drago.  Over the years, “Rocky” managed to achieve something rare, a near mythic quality, a timeless sort of feel.

The “Rocky” franchise has come to a close. In 2015, the movie “Creed” made its official debut.  The “Creed” series follows the life and trials of the son of Apollo Creed – Adonis Creed. Adonis is discovered and mentored personally by Rocky Balboa to become a boxing champion. “Creed II” showed the return of Ivan Drago (reprised by Dolph Lungdren), with his monstrous son, Victor. I really loved watching “Creed II” so I noted the release of “Creed III” with interest.

“Creed III” is a very different movie than the previous two. For one, there’s the pacing. “Creed III” moves at a slower pace, attempting to really build a major climax. The beginning shows us a flashback where Adonis Creed is being mentored by a friend, Duke. Duke treats Creed like a surrogate brother, helping him, teaching him to box. Then in an attempt to protect Creed, Duke pulls a gun and is sent to jail for assault. He’s never seen again. Until almost thirty years later. After Adonis has already been world champion, retired and is trying to settle down. Then Duke comes back into his life, and wreaks absolute havoc.

“Creed III” is a very different movie than any of the “Rocky” or previous two “Creed” movies. For one Sylvester Stallone doesn’t show, unfortunately. I got the impression that this was done in an attempt to make this final Creed movie stand on its own. That rather than rely on peoples nostalgia over seeing Rocky Balboa, this time Adonis Creed has to stand on his own. This was highlighted by the fact Michael B. Jordan was the director.      I respect the effort, but let’s be honest. Without “Rocky Balboa”, there never would’ve been “Creed”. In other words, Stallone should’ve been brought back.

“Creed III” is also not quite as explosive as the previous movie. Whereas “Creed II” recaptured the mythic struggle of “Rocky IV” and did so quite ably. There were lots of intense boxing scenes and a high amount of tension leading up to the end. “Creed III” moves in a different pace. This isn’t Adonis taking a shot at fame and glory, or fighting to avenge his fathers death. Duke is an angry, bitter man, who feels betrayed by Adonis. He wants a shot at fame and fortune, but he also want to make Adonis pay for abandoning him.


I was surprised to see that most of the movie is about Adonis and his family. We see him raising his daughter, teaching her to defend herself from bullies, trying to learn how to level with his wife, and making peace with his past. This has a more mature feel than any of the other movies. Not to worry, there’s still plenty of boxing. Without spoiling too much, the end fight scene between Adonis and Duke is pretty epic.

But surprisingly, while “Creed III” is billed and advertised as a boxing movie, this is a movie about making peace with the past, where Creed has to learn to move beyond what he wishes he could forget. Another way of looking at this, is that “Creed III” attempts to show the audience what goes on beyond the boxing ring. That boxing is not just two men attempting to beat each others brains out for lack of something better to do. I guess the underlying theme to this movie would be, ‘why do people box’? What makes people get in the ring, despite all the obvious dangers?

Overall, I enjoyed watching “Creed III”. In my opinion it isn’t quite as good as the previous two, but “Creed III” is still a worthy addition. A graceful way to end the series. It was a good attempt at trying to be more than just a boxing movie, an attempt I can respect.