Movies By Cho: Creed
Now Showing: Creed
Starring: Sylvester Stallone, Michael B Jordan, Tessa Thompson, Phylicia Rashad
Scene after the Credits: No
Would I see this again: Yes
Notable Previews: Race, The Revenant
Bottom Line: If you're a fan of the original Rocky, you should love this
I've never been a fan of boxing. I can't comprehend why 2 men beating the snot out of each other is appealing. However, the Rocky movies have always held my attention. I think it's because the story isn't really about the match itself, so much as it's about the human element; the character growth itself. So it is with Creed. The characters are very real, 3-dimensional people, instead of cookie-cutter characters filling a story role.
By the time that the iconic Rocky theme ("Gotta Fly Now") swelled during the climax, I was 100% committed to the boxing match. Rocky IV (the one Apollo dies in, and this movie obliquely references several times) is still my favorite, but I think Creed might now be in the #2 place. The montage scene is okay, but nothing beats the montage in IV, where Rocky is training in Russia while Survivor belts out "Burning Heart".
Besides the obvious tribute to Apollo in this film, it was nice to also see homage given to other departed characters: Adrian, Paulie, and Mickey are all referenced multiple times. (Rocky even visits the graves of Adrian & Paulie, and this is shown as something he obviously does on a regular basis.) Even Rocky's (now adult) son is given a mention.
If you don't already know, the movie is about Adonis Johnson, the illegitimate son of Apollo Creed. (Such an odd word, "illegitimate"; it seems so demeaning of a person, but it's the only other word I know besides the much more offensive "bastard".) He was born shortly *after* the events of Rocky IV, so he never got to meet his father. Then, his mother died while he was very young, and he ends up spending a troubled childhood in and out of Juvie and Foster homes, until Mary Anne Creed (the always wonderful Phylicia Rashad) takes him in and sets him on a path of success. A path he eventually ends up abandoning, when he can't let a childhood of fighting out of his blood, and he tires of the clandestine underground boxing he's been doing in Mexico on weekends. When no one will train him, he leaves Los Angeles and heads to Philadelphia to find the man his adoptive mother has told him was his father's best friend: Rocky Balboa.
You'll have to buy a ticket for the rest, as well as to find out the reason why this is probably the last Rocky movie. (Even if they continue the Creed saga, it's unlikely to have Rocky in it, except for a mention or cameo)
TL;DR - good film, go see it
Starring: Sylvester Stallone, Michael B Jordan, Tessa Thompson, Phylicia Rashad
Scene after the Credits: No
Would I see this again: Yes
Notable Previews: Race, The Revenant
Bottom Line: If you're a fan of the original Rocky, you should love this
I've never been a fan of boxing. I can't comprehend why 2 men beating the snot out of each other is appealing. However, the Rocky movies have always held my attention. I think it's because the story isn't really about the match itself, so much as it's about the human element; the character growth itself. So it is with Creed. The characters are very real, 3-dimensional people, instead of cookie-cutter characters filling a story role.
By the time that the iconic Rocky theme ("Gotta Fly Now") swelled during the climax, I was 100% committed to the boxing match. Rocky IV (the one Apollo dies in, and this movie obliquely references several times) is still my favorite, but I think Creed might now be in the #2 place. The montage scene is okay, but nothing beats the montage in IV, where Rocky is training in Russia while Survivor belts out "Burning Heart".
Besides the obvious tribute to Apollo in this film, it was nice to also see homage given to other departed characters: Adrian, Paulie, and Mickey are all referenced multiple times. (Rocky even visits the graves of Adrian & Paulie, and this is shown as something he obviously does on a regular basis.) Even Rocky's (now adult) son is given a mention.
If you don't already know, the movie is about Adonis Johnson, the illegitimate son of Apollo Creed. (Such an odd word, "illegitimate"; it seems so demeaning of a person, but it's the only other word I know besides the much more offensive "bastard".) He was born shortly *after* the events of Rocky IV, so he never got to meet his father. Then, his mother died while he was very young, and he ends up spending a troubled childhood in and out of Juvie and Foster homes, until Mary Anne Creed (the always wonderful Phylicia Rashad) takes him in and sets him on a path of success. A path he eventually ends up abandoning, when he can't let a childhood of fighting out of his blood, and he tires of the clandestine underground boxing he's been doing in Mexico on weekends. When no one will train him, he leaves Los Angeles and heads to Philadelphia to find the man his adoptive mother has told him was his father's best friend: Rocky Balboa.
You'll have to buy a ticket for the rest, as well as to find out the reason why this is probably the last Rocky movie. (Even if they continue the Creed saga, it's unlikely to have Rocky in it, except for a mention or cameo)
TL;DR - good film, go see it