That line delivered by Apollo Creed (Carl Weathers) in the original “Rocky” sums up the philosophy of the least inspired opuses of the whole franchise (spin-offs included). It’s all about a little far-fetched novelty that would be accepted granted it provides the emotional knockout at the end. “Creed II” wasn’t an original piece of screenwriting but boy, did that ending redeem the flaws! I wish I could say the same about “Creed III”.
After eight movies, they might have used up all the ideas but it doesn’t matter as the franchise has always been a certain continuity, about how beloved characters would deal with new life challenges… and about the new faces that’d occupy the other corner of the ring. The contender is the best thing about “Creed III”. What an underdog figure, an ex-convict whose anger has amounted to determinations after 18 years, it’s Clubber Lang with a backstory. His name is Damien “Dame” Anderson and he’s played by Jonathan Majors in a tour-de-force performance. Even with his head bent, his towering presence is undeniable and evens out his dim-witted look that doesn’t fool about his potential, the need for an existential payback makes quite a combo with his pack of muscles.
Such a character should be polished, and allowed to deliver his full premise… but Dame isn’t treated with respect, which is ironically his own grudge against his ex-friend Adonis. The opening flashback shows him winning a clandestine match, while mentoring a younger Adonis, his dreams of winning the championship are then wasted in an incident that put him in jail, while saving ‘Little Donnie’ in the process. For some reason, the editing keeps the implications of the flashback unclear, but it’s almost amateurish. Given Dame’s resentment, it was pretty obvious that Donnie was in debt with him, that he stole his dream etc. In fact it was about a flashback within the flashback, a secret about the man Adonis assaulted, but one could easily guess the reason. Again, much ado about nothing.
Dame is the strongest opponent of the “Creed” series, the more multi-layered at least. There’s not much novelty apart from that, for the film follows a storyline a little closer than “Rocky III”, we see Adonis at the top of his game in a rematch with his first big opponent Conlan (Tony Bellew), the luxurious apartment he lives in, his fashion has solidly improved, his appearance mirrors Rocky Balboa in the beginning of “III”, even Bianca (Tessa Thompson) has matured up and is shown like an executive producer. We get it, the two got civilized, and the contrast with the walking mugshot Dame fills the film with certainly the biggest ratio of awkward moments, that always keep us on guard with him. We want to like him but somehow we’re not sure.
Of course one can see where the storyline is getting, Adonis has a protege in Felix Chavez (Jose Benavidez) coached by his mother Laura (Selenis Leyva). Adonis is promoting a fight between Felix and Ivan Drago (much to the joy of continuity buffs). But then Dame comes into the picture and becomes a sparring partner for Felix, I was sure that he would knock him out to get in front of Drago, but he manages to be Felix’ contender. This is where the film starts to lose its breath. The Drago incident occurs shortly after the first half, then everything goes so quickly it’s like watching an extended trailer. Dame beats Felix after a savage boxing match, then he’s the champion and becomes detestable enough to prompt Adonis to fight him. At that point, the screenplay had already lost its breath.
I first had a problem with Laura’s reaction at her son’s beating, when you think of Drago throwing the towel while his son was standing, it’s hard to imagine that Latina mother still trusting her son to win with blood gushing out his face. Her reaction at the knockout was as dramatic as if had just tripped on an orange peel. It doesn’t get better that both Laura and Felix, built as ‘strong’ characters totally vanish from the story as if they had fulfilled their purpose. The film had forty minutes left to turn Dame into a villain. I had no problem with his involvement in the Drago incident. But his reaction bothered me, he could have asked Donny why he never came to him or told him that the ends justified the means since he won. But the script makes him act like an arrogant bad guy so we could root for Donnie by default. That wasn’t emotion but manipulation.
It doesn’t get better when we have the death of Mary-Anne (Phylicia Rashad) played like a nod to Mickey’s. She’s barely present in the film and such a major character should have had a bigger moment before moving on. The film has many filler-sequences like this and insist on characters who never really pay-off. Bianca is rather passive and only serve as a reactor while little Amara Creed (who’s aged a lot in 4 years), played by Mila Davis-Kent, might be the second highlight of the film. And I wouldn’t be surprised if there’s a “Creed VI” with her as the champ.
Anyway, old habits die hard and so we get to the training montage, and the fights that are remarkably made, with a use of slow-motion that has its punchy effect. The frustrating aspect of the film is that one or two sessions of rewriting and a better editing might have improved the final result and give that kind of emotional punch anyone expects from a “Rocky/Creed” movie.
It’s still an entertaining film, a good directorial debut by Michael B. Jordan, the first without Rocky but as he told Donnie in “II”, “it’s your time now”. Stallone refused to see the film, out of sentimentalism. Well, I watched it, and I forgive its flaws, for the same reason.
