Creed III - Rocky's Legacy | Riecks Filmkritiken & Co.

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Almost 50 years after the first ROCKY film appeared in cinemas, boxing legend Sylvester Stallone has six films in his own franchise and two spin-off films under the title CREED – ROCKY’S LEGACY to his credit. But that will probably be all, because for the first time, CREED III – ROCKY’S LEGACY will be another film in which the now 76-year-old US American no longer appears. But this is not due to his stately age, but to the further direction of the series, in which another part has already been announced. According to the magazine The Hollywood Reporter, the film series has been developed in a direction that differs massively from Stallone’s ideas, which is why another collaboration is out of the question. In particular, however, because he has absolutely no rights to the character Rocky Balboa, while most of the rest of the core team does.

For Michael B. Jordan, who as Adonis Creed takes on the legacy of Apollo Creed and (according to the film title) the legacy of Rocky Balboa, Stallone is now doing the same and, in addition to his leading role, is also directing the second sequel. This is also his directorial debut, for which he was able to cast all the key characters except Stallone with the same actors from the first two parts. In addition, the cast is completed by Jonathan Majors, who can currently be seen in cinemas as Kang in ANT-MAN AND THE WASP.

What it’s all about

World champion Adonis Creed has noticeably retired with his partner Bianca and daughter Amara, living a wonderful life of luxury. But when one day his old best buddy Damian shows up on his doorstep, the boxing legend’s past catches up with him. His friend served 18 years in prison, which destroyed his hopes of a boxing career. Plagued by guilt, Adonis exhausts his options and offers Damian the chance for a comeback. But the prodigal son wants more than just to be a sparring partner and does everything he can to win the world title. Success does Damian no good, however, and he quickly goes off the rails. Will Adonis be able to get his friend back on track?

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Review

In Michael B. Jordan’s first attempt at a film, it’s clear that he either has a knack for directing cinematic flicks or the checklist work has now been perfected to the point where it becomes possible for almost any filmmaker to make big blockbusters look bombastic. CREED III – ROCKY’S LEGACY mixes a “From Zero To Hero” story with a “Prodigal Son” storyline as well as a “Comeback” plot and thus tries to go new and different ways than all the predecessors of the franchise. With a new antagonist and an even stronger focus on the PoC community, an attempt is made to breathe new life into the boxing film. At the same time, old mechanisms are used and the focus is less on the boxing fights themselves, but rather on the development of a framework story and a stronger characterisation of the various roles.

In the past films, the creeping process of Rocky Balboa receiving less and less screentime and thus becoming merely a passive marginal figure has already become apparent. The fact that it was now relatively easy to write him out of the plot completely comes as little surprise. The mentor role is now taken over by Michael B. Jordan’s Apollo Creed, who thus follows almost the same career path as the legend Balboa. It is now debatable whether we are still talking about a sequel series or a complete remake. However, this is not necessarily to be seen as pejorative, because Jordan shows a fearsome and respectable presence in his film, which makes him mutate into a force of nature and thus provides impressive show values. While ROCKY films focused on the slightly silly cliché image of a boxer, CREED now gives us the complete opposite.

More inclusion…

Linguistically, the work ventures into new territory and, in addition to a certain underground style, works above all with a lot of sign language. The latter had previously only been included as a marginal feature, whereas now it takes over large parts of the film and thus achieves inclusion in a largely convincing way. While it is not unusual to add spoken language to such scenes, we are now only offered subtitles, which make the action much more authentic.

The interplay between Jonathan Majors and Michael B. Jordan on the one hand creates a lively synergy that breathes fresh air into the action, but at the same time establishes a two-class society that contributes significantly to the expansion of their respective intentions and ideologies. The initially opportunistic Damian Anderson, embodied by Majors, quite quickly reveals his distaste for his former friend’s career path and reacts cathartically to it, creating a conflict that, similar to the storyline of ROCKY V, is played out on a much more personal level. Just like Jordan, Majors convinces with an astonishing physique that has been trained extensively over a year. According to his own statements, Majors received over 100 blows to the face during the filming.

… and less energy

The fight sequences are elaborately developed and show a powerful impact, which can sometimes be felt in the audience. The punches are much faster and more massive than we know from the ROCKY films. Accompanied by relevant raps, an epochal atmosphere is created that is worthy of the composer Ludwig Göransson, who was prevented from performing at the time. Unfortunately, however, the basses that would turn the cinema itself into a boxing ring are missing in many places. Visually, no expense or effort has been spared in creating perfectionist images that are repeatedly designed with backlighting and a primarily warm colour palette. It is noticeable that scenes surrounding the antagonist are often cooler and darker, whereby the audience’s sympathies are always transferred to the seemingly warm-hearted Creed. Countless symbolic images from training phases are also intended to awaken the primal instincts of boxing fans.

Conclusion

The bottom line is that CREED III – ROCKY’S LEGACY is just another part that makes use of already established mechanisms and merely throws various standard developments into a pot and mixes them up thoroughly. Nevertheless, it is also a worthy sequel to the CREED series, in which Michael B. Jordan once again has to prove himself in a new way and Jonathan Majors can really prove what he is capable of in comparison to ANT-MAN 3. We are thus shown the best sports entertainment cinema with a significantly greater range between revenge, pride, honour and friendship. A much bigger step is also taken in the direction of inclusion, even if there is still a lot of room for improvement.

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