Creed III
Creed III is in theaters at the time of writing. Rated PG-13. Common Sense says 13.
STORY: B-
The movie opens with Adonis Creed’s “final” fight. If you’ve ever seen a Creed or Rocky movie … If you’ve ever seen a boxing movie … If you’ve ever seen a movie, you know Adonis (Black Panther’s Michael B. Jordan) won’t be hanging up his gloves quite yet.
I have so many different feelings about this story. I love that they choose Donnie’s formative years as the fuel for the main plot line. Most movies don’t handle Black backstories as deftly or with as much dignity as this film does. The dynamic between Adonis and Damian (Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania’s Jonathan Majors) sizzles and simmers. It contains an intensity unique to grown men who’ve lost touch since both the wonderful and terrible days of their childhoods.
But every once in a while something sucker punches the story, knocking its flow to the mat. There’s a major plot point reveal that is only surprising because it’s so obvious that I couldn’t believe the main characters hadn’t figured it out yet. Another time, a character jumps and cheers when he has absolutely no reason to do either. These moments (and others) create a few bumps on an otherwise smooth and rather enjoyable road.
PEOPLE: A-
My thoughts about the actors are much less complicated. Everybody delivers a knockout performance. Tessa Thompson (Thor: Ragnarok’s Valkyrie) butterflies her way through this film. Her grace acts as a guide for every actor she shares the screen with, directing them to their proper place. It’s a perfect supporting performance. Adonis is a complicated character, and Jordan portrays all of his different sides (rage, emotional distance, determination, heart, and more) with equal attention and care. Mila Davis-Kent is fantastic in her first feature film role. Of everyone in the Creed-verse, she’s the most capable of knocking Adonis to his knees.
But the championship belt goes to - who else? - Jonathan Majors. The man is in charge every time he’s on the screen. But what makes him such an amazing actor isn’t just his ability to be the alpha dog. Sure, he can yap and talk trash well enough to throw everyone else in the room off their game. He can shove a champ around and claim his territory for himself. He can call his shot in a championship bout and deliver it. Yet Major’s secret acting weapon is that he’s also confident and capable enough to know when not to be the top dog. The man is more than happy to cede control of the screen to Jordan, Thompson, and Davis-Kent. He does whatever is necessary to make sure each scene lands a precisely calibrated emotional punch to the audience’s face. He’s been in three movies so far in 2023. Is it too much to ask for three more?
FILM NERD STUFF: C+
The cinematography has some fabulous moments. My favorites are the numerous ring entrances. Felix Chavez’s Dia de los Muertos inspired entrance pops with color and trippy imagery. Damian’s entrances are more direct and aggressive, just like his character. But none tops the moment Adonis enters the ring for his final bout. The camera angle and the fireworks create a spectacular, memorable image. Editing wise, I really enjoyed the way the film uses cross-cutting to show the similarities between Adonis and Damian. One example can be found in the trailer: both men stare into the mirror with the same newspaper clipping taped to the corner.
The film often takes risks in its visual storytelling. Sharing them might spoil your viewing experience, so I’ll simply say this: while they mostly don’t work for me, I respect the swings they take.
JORDAN’S SHOT (Elective Class): B+
What is filmmaking? Put way too simply, it’s holding an image or story in your head and then translating that image or story through tools (cameras, screenwriting, editing, etc.) onto a screen. This can go wrong in many ways, but let’s focus on two.
Perhaps a filmmaker has perfect command of all her tools. She uses those tools to perfectly render the image or story in her head on whatever screen you happen to be looking at. But what if the image or story in her head isn’t terribly captivating in the first place? All the craft in the world won’t be able to make an uninteresting story interesting. That’s one way filmmaking can go wrong.
The opposite might also happen. Maybe a filmmaker has an incredible image or story rolling around his head, but he isn’t fluent enough with the tools of filmmaking to create that image on screen. What the audience ends up seeing on screen is nowhere near as interesting as what he saw in his head in the first place. From what I saw, this more closely describes Creed III.
Michael B. Jordan has imagination. I see it in the plot, in the anime influences, in the way he positions Damian’s character to possibly come back for another film (in a myriad of different possible ways), and in laying the foundation for a possible future storyline for his daughter.
I will always take imagination over craft. Craft can be taught. Jordan’s imagination can’t. Some of his stupendous ideas fit wonderfully within the Rocky universe, expanding it in meaningful and inclusive directions. Other ideas don’t mesh as well. I’m excited to see what he does next in this series, but I’m even more excited to see what he does when he gets a chance to create something all his own. His work here shows that he more than deserves the chance to do so.
FINAL COMMENTS:
Creed and Star Wars: The Force Awakens both came out in 2015 and seemed to follow similar formulas. They each take the best pieces of their original trilogies, chop them up, and drop an amazing remix. Creed III reminds me of Episode 9: The Rise of Skywalker. They are two films that don’t always make sense (Creed III definitely makes more sense than Skywalker). But both are such fun, roller coaster rides that it doesn’t matter. Fans of Creed (and Rocky, who for the first time sits one out) will absolutely love Creed III.