Review: 'Creed III' lets Michael B. Jordan, as star and first-time director, step out from Rocky's shadow
“Creed III” feels like a summation of sorts, but also a new beginning — because it shows a franchise, and a character, finally walking out of the long shadow of Rocky Balboa.
Star and first-time director Michael B. Jordan returns as boxer Adonis Creed, who’s at a good place in his life. Five years after his last fight, he’s enjoying his retirement from the sport, living a luxe life in Los Angeles with his wife, Bianca (Tessa Thompson), and their daughter, Amara (Mila Davis-Kent), who’s 8 years old and (as we saw in the second “Creed” movie), with a hearing impairment.
Bianca has retired from performing music, to preserve what’s left of her hearing, and produces other people’s music in her home studio. Creed watches over his gym, working with his ringside man, Duke (Wood Harris), in managing Felix Chavez (Jose Benevidez), the heavyweight champ preparing to defend his title — the one he inherited from Creed when he retired — with a fight against Creed’s former rival, Viktor Drago (Florian Munteanu).
That’s when someone from Adonis’ past returns. Damian Anderson, played by Jonathan Majors, was Adonis’ protector and “big brother” when the two lived in the group home — before, we’re told, Adonis was brought to live with his father’s wife, Mary-Anne (Phylicia Rashad). The movie begins with the moment when Adonis’ and Damian’s paths split, when Adonis was 15, and Damian wound up going to prison for what eventually became an 18-year stretch.
Damian wants what he lost when he went to prison: A chance to be a boxer, like he was when he was in Golden Gloves. Adonis agrees to let Damian train at his gym, and spar with Felix, against Duke’s advice. Things move fast, and at a party for Bianca’s record label that crosses into Adonis’ boxing scene, a brawl breaks out that leaves Drago injured and unable to fight. Rather than postpone, Adonis convinces Felix to let Damian have a chance, an underdog going up against the champ. (It’s in this conversation that the movie, for the only time, mentions Rocky.)
Adonis figures out, a little too late, that there’s nothing coincidental about Damian’s arrival on the scene. Damian tells Adonis his plan: “I’m coming for it all.” And “all” includes Adonis’ life, which Damian thinks was taken from him when he went to prison.
The script — by Keenan Coogler (who worked on “Space Jam: A New Legacy”) and Zach Baylin (“King Richard”), who share story credit with Ryan Coogler (Keenan’s brother, and the director of the first “Creed”) — builds up to the inevitable showdown, with the aggressor Damian prodding Adonis out of retirement. The buildup is worth it, as it gives Jordan, Thompson and Rashad moments to dig into the pain and the joys of the boxing life. Jordan’s transformation of the Creed character, from hotheaded boxer in the first movie to the responsible adult here, is a delight to watch.
On the other side, Majors shows — even more so than he did in “Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania” as the antagonist who’s being built up to dominate the MCU — how much power and intensity he carries, both physically and psychologically, as Damian. This is a character who has to get under Adonis’ skin, and Majors shows he can push all of his opponent’s buttons.
The summation of “Creed III,” true to the series’ traditions, is in the ring. Jordan does a solid job directing the fight scenes, which range from gritty and sweaty to mythic and operatic. The fight scenes work because Jordan has laid the groundwork earlier in the film, to reveal the battle between Adonis and Damian as a family feud — which makes the confrontation all the more brutal and meaningful.
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‘Creed III’
★★★1/2
Opens Friday, March 3, in theaters everywhere. Rated PG-13 for intense sports action, violence and some strong language. Running time: 116 minutes.