By David Okocha ‘19
Creed II at first look, from its dialogue to the actors is a modern Rocky film. It may just be the best Rocky movie of all time. It follows great emotion characters from its actors and thrilling fights in the ring.
The movie follows Adonis Creed, son ofApollo Creed as he struggles with the dilemma of honoring his father’s legacy and creating his own. He is faced with the challenge of facing off against Victor Drago, son of Ivan Drago, the man who killed his father. The film has some pacing problems and there are some parts in the movie where it seems to draw too much from its source content, Rocky IV. But make no mistake this is a great movie, most in part by a brilliant performance by young actor Michael B. Jordan. Jordan excels in this movie, portraying a young hotshot boxer. But what shines through the most is his emotional range, as you can feel his struggle and grind to be the best and create his own legacy. In this movie Adonis Creed is now a father, and Jordan does well in portraying the difficulty of balancing fatherhood and creating a legacy, a challenge his character faces throughout the film. This was in my opinion an Academy Award caliber performance from the talented actor because of his ability to portray his character.
That emotional register is also present in this movie with its other actors, as this is a movie of pain and struggle, no better shown than Sylvester Stallone. In his last performance as Rocky Balboa, he delivers another exceptional performance as as a mentor to Adonis (though it may not have been as good as his 2016 Academy Award nominated performance). The movie also comes through with a thrilling score and soundtrack curated by conductor Ludwig Göransson and producer Mike WiLL Made-It.
All in all this is movie is better than its predecessor, it will leave you hanging on to the edge of your seat until the last the last bell.
