2015's Creed ended up being one of my favorite films of its year. I've gone on record saying that it's a masterpiece and - in my opinion - the best overall film in the Rocky saga. So, needless to say, my apprehensions that things would go off the rails immediately with the sequel (which Creed writer/director Ryan Coogler passed on to make a small indie drama called Black Panther) were fairly high.
Luckily, while Creed II may not be the masterpiece that its direct predecessor was, it's still a damn fine entry into what has now become one of my favorite film series, and packs a couple powerful secret weapons that make it more than just a solid cover of earlier numbers.
The sequel finds Sylvester Stallone back in the writer's chair, alongside Juel Taylor, with indie filmmaker Steven Caple Jr. directing. The film starts confidently, showing that the new crew is more than capable of filling the shoes Coogler left for them as Adonis "Donnie" Johnson (Michael B. Jordan), son of the legendary boxer Apollo Creed, claims the heavyweight championship title in a rousing opening match. The series' signature mix of theatrical boxing action, dry humor, and chatty melodrama is all used to good effect in the film's introductory act, letting the viewer settle into an entertaining groove as the movie sets up its primary pins.
Jordan and Stallone import their dynamite chemistry from their first film together, with former champ Rocky Balboa now settled solidly - if not always comfortably - into the role of trainer and manager. Creed II walks the tricky line between following the structural beats of both Rocky II and Rocky III, with a fighter balancing a new family with his career as well as needing to build himself back up for a fight with a devastating opponent. There are some awkward steps to get there, and a few of the beats that the movie moves through as Donnie and Rocky's relationship gets tumultuous when Donnie can't say no to a familiar challenger sometimes lack the elegance and the deep human empathy of the series' highs. A couple narrative turns both seem to rub up against the superbly effective character work of the previous film as well as leaving empty space where some of the best character pairings should be. The movie is easily at its weakest when it feels mechanical and contrived, which it bumps into occasionally in setting up its primary antagonists.
Luckily, once the pins are in place, Creed II knocks them down with bravado. If the machinations to bring Adonis into the ring with Victor Drago, son of Rocky IV's Ivan Drago (Dolph Lundgren, returning as the man who killed Apollo in the ring) are contrived at times, they're more than worth the wait. "Apollo's Son Fights Ivan Drago's Son" is both the most obvious sequel idea and also the easiest to foul up, but Stallone, Taylor, and Caple turn a potential mill stone into a gold belt. The Drago family dynamic is easily the strongest "new" element in the film, with Lundgren finding a meaty human core in the cartoon character he first portrayed back in 1985, and Florian "Big Nasty" Munteanu coating an almost childlike vulnerability with a ferocious coat of armor as Victor. In making a deliberate sequel to the most goofy installment, Creed II takes what could have been another bit of empty spectacle and instead crafts an emotional rumination on the effects of toxic masculinity on families and the importance of breaking cycles of violence.
The other area where this film finds dynamite footing is in the relationship between Adonis and Bianca (the vivacious Tessa Thompson). The Rocky films never fully figured out what to do with Adrian Balboa after her show-stopping arc in the first film, and the Creeds seem self-conscious in their desire to sidestep repeating this problem. Bianca, a Philly musician with progressive hearing loss, was already a firecracker with her own things going on in the 2015 film, and the way the sequel weaves their relationship and expanding family into a low-key but effective disability-empowerment narrative is a hell of a thing to see. And their twinned narratives reach a peak during Adonis' Act 3 walk to the ring that easily ranks as one of the best cinematic moments of the year. The fact that it's followed by a genuinely thrilling boxing match set to Ludwig Goransson's beautiful score with an edge-of-your-seat conclusion is just gravy.
Creed II almost certainly won't make my Top 10 of the year the way its big brother did, but it's an undeniably effective follow-up and a total blast of a time in the theater. It may not land every punch it throws, but the ones that do connect are 10-ton bombs that will leave you reeling. If this is the road that the series will walk going forward, as imperfect as it may be at times, it's still a good one, filled with lovable characters that walk while carrying the weight of years like friends you've known your whole life. I'll gladly walk it with them.
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