‘Creed’ is a Rocky the Next Generation Deserves

It feels like they just give us the core immediately. Maybe it’s nostalgia for a time when he was one of the world’s biggest action stars.

Stallone also said that he put a particular spin on Balboa’s dialogue, since the character had a very intricate approach with his line, saying “He, you know, I’m dumb, and you’re shy”.

In “Creed”, we start with Apollo’s young illegitimate son, Adonis Creed (who unsurprisingly chooses to refer to himself as Donny), in a youth correctional facility. Want to make a Marvel movie? He came from nothing and trained hard to get his shot. Still, there’s no denying that boxing is in his blood, so Adonis heads to Philadelphia, the site of Apollo Creed’s legendary match with a tough upstart named Rocky Balboa. Conti’s composition’s seemed nearly untouchable especially during his golden years with the Rocky films; however, Ludwig music was very reminiscent to Conti’s, but he added his own urban flare, and it left me an emotional wreck. I won’t compare it to all the films but since this film is reminiscent to the first Rocky film, I will say that Bianca is a wonderful character.

This is the exchange between Rocky and his brother-in-law Paulie in the middle of the bout with Drago. Why would he live the life of a boxer, he is asked over and over again, when he has been given so many privileges?

A bulked-up Michael B. Jordan (“Fruitvale Station”, the “Friday Night Lights” TV series) is Adonis Johnson, a self-taught, wanna-be fighter in L.A. who has a white-collar job by day but boxes in underground brawls in Tijuana by night. And yet there are a few films like Creed that work despite pandering to every single cliché in the book. Rocky (Stallone), who still gets moist-eyed at the memory of his friend’s demise, initially refuses to coach Adonis when the young man comes knocking at his Philadelphia home. Throughout the film the two learn how much they need one another. Thanks to Coogler’s passion and Stallone’s performance, Creed isn’t just one of the better reboots to come along, it’s one of the better films of 2015.

Coogler helmed the film while Aaron Covington and Stallone wrote the film script. Robert Chartoff, William Chartoff, Nicolas Stern, Kevin King Templeton, David Winkler, and Irwin Winkler co-produced the film. We meet Adonis/Rocky while doing small time fights. There is a girl he falls for, there is a fight that sets him up, and there is anger over wanting to be his own man while being Apollo’s son. It’s an exceedingly familiar yarn, but woven afresh with undeniable enthusiasm and energy by director and writer Ryan Coogler.

“As I got older and became an athlete, if I had a big football game or big basketball game he would say ‘hey man, c’mon, we’ll take five minutes and watch this scene from Rocky so you can get fired up, ‘” he remembered. A charming Rocky Balboa who’s been worn down by the world and age is catching up to him. Watching Creed for the first time made me forget about all the other crappier Rocky titles in the franchise, but because of these tributes in this film, it reminded me of why I loved it in the first place.