Film: Creed II
Cast: Sylvester Stallone, Tessa Thompson, Florian Muntaneau, Phylicia Rashad, Wood Harris, Michael B. Jordan, Dolph Lundgren, Jacob Duran
Director: Steven Caple Jr
Rating: * * * *
Moviegoers are a partisan lot. Taking sides. That’s we did, rooting for the doughty black American defending his world heavyweight title against a formidable Russian challenger in Sylvesyer Stallone’s new sports drama, the second spinoff from Rocky IV and comes replete with allusions to the 1985 film that starred Stallone in the title role. We know how the story will play out in this sequel to 2015’s “Creed,” the eighth in the franchise originated in 1976 by Stallone. But formulaic or not, Creed 2 fulfils what it (and the hero) set out to do.
This, we learn early on in the film when Adonis “Donnie” Creed (Michael B. Jordan), wins the championship and proposes on bended knee to his lovely girlfriend Bianca Porter (Tessa Thompson) with the help of his trainer, Robert “Rocky” Balboa (Sylvester Stallone) Bianca is a songstress who uses hearing aids and reminded your reviewer of the classical genius Beethoven who went deaf in his twenties.
Naturally, Donnie encounters a formidable rival in Viktor Drago (Florian Munteanu, suitably menacing), a Russian whose father cum coach, Ivan (Dolph Lundgren) had fatally pummelled Donnie’s dad Apollo in an exhibition bout. Rocky subsequently defeated Ivan who dreams of revenge. Rocky continues to grieve his dead compatriots (which we see in the opening sequence) and disapproves of the contest between Donnie and Viktor.
Estranged from his son, the widowed Rocky plays the role of surrogate father-cum-mentor to Donnie who maintains close ties with his step-mother, Mary Anne (Phylicia Rashad) true grit and brawn are showcased. In the screenplay co-written by Stallone and Juel Taylor. The film goes full throttle in the fight scenes when Viktor beats his opponents to a pulp egged on by his father’s commands (“Break him…destroy him…”) we winced, cringed and yelped in our seats. But Donnie is bloodied and unbowed and retrieves his honour. And while we are rooting for the champ, we are moved to pity Viktor and even his vengeful father in an evocative scene.
Director Steven Caple Jr and the scriptwriters show the price that pugilists have to pay for achieving glory in the ring and material success.The intense fight scenes are beautifully photographed, most impressive of all are the scenes in which the contenders make grand entries. Well etched characters especially the father-son dynamics, move the plot making Creed II well worth a watch.