Creed III: Kinetic fight scenes and fine performances lift boxing threequel

Creed 3 (M, 116 mins) Directed by Michael B. Jordan ****

There was once a film called Rocky III. It was the third (well, duh) in what became an interminable series, created by and starring Sylvester Stallone.

Rocky – the original, had been a gritty and respected smash-hit in 1976 that saw Stallone nominated for Oscars for writing the screenplay and for playing the title role. Only two other men in history have ever received that double nomination. So when your pub quiz MC asks “what do Sylvester Stallone, Charlie Chaplin and Orson Welles have in common?” you’ll know the answer.

After a pretty unsurprising Rocky II, Rocky III told of how our champion was at the height of his fame, with all the wealth and popularity he could wish for. But, from the same wrong-side-of-the-tracks Rocky arose from, came a new, skilled and fearless challenger, with nothing to lose and a toughness that years of pampering have stripped from our hero. Rocky, of course, had to embrace some bumper-sticker philosophy about “rediscovering his true self” to defeat this man and then move on to the inevitable Rocky IV.

READ MORE:
* Creed II: Sylvester Stallone’s Rocky road to retirement continues to delight
* What I learned watching the first six Rocky movies in a single, mind-bending binge
* Review: Creed

Creed is a Rocky spin-off. The first film featured Michael B. Jordan as boxer Adonis Creed, who was the lost son of Rocky’s legendary opponent Apollo. Creed sought out Rocky to coach him – and the film went on to become a genuinely terrific movie and maybe exactly the swan-song that Stallone’s – actually – iconic character deserved.

Creed II, like Rocky II, was serviceable, but not as good. Which brings us to Creed III, which seems happy to knowingly replay the Rocky III storyline, but to do it in a way that moves past caricature and into some appealingly thorny dramatic territory.

The antagonist in Creed III was once a best friend, sparring partner and an ally to Adonis at the tough boy’s home they both survived. A twist of fate at a street fight put Damian in prison for 18 years. Adonis, younger and more fearful, fled the scene and went on to fame and fortune.

Now Damian is out, still boxing, and as tough and wily as prison fighting could make him. A showdown between the two men is inevitable – and Creed III will get us there. But on the way, Michael B. Jordan – making an impressive debut as director, as well as still playing Adonis – will do a fine job of presenting the men as two sides of a coin toss.

But for a split-second decision and an LAPD cruiser nearby, both men could have gone free, or gone away. Creed and Damian both know this. And so the battle between them becomes far more nuanced and human than the simple “good guy versus bad guy” the media are selling.

Creed III is basically a terrific wee movie. The boxing and training scenes have got a kineticism that jumps off the screen. And the performances from Jordan, Tessa Thompson as wife Bianca and – especially – Jonathan Majors as Damian, are all more than fine.

I’m not sure that Jordan’s decision to present part of the final bout as near-dream sequence really works, or achieves anything that an inventive sound designer couldn’t have conveyed, but that’s a small criticism of what is mostly a very good instalment in the Creed series. If this is the last we see of these characters, then Creed will have picked a fine place to stop.

Creed III is now screening in cinemas nationwide.