Creed III review: Michael B. Jordan’s directing debut isn’t a knockout but still packs a wallop
Jonathan Majors goes the distance in this stylish continuation of the Rocky spin-off series
Film Reviews Creed III
At the beginning of Creed III, Adonis Creed (Michael B. Jordan) has retired from boxing at the top of his career, as heavyweight champion of the world. Now he’s a mentor and promoter living in bliss with his wife Bianca (Tessa Thompson) and their daughter, Amara (Mila Davis-Kent). However, there’s no doubt, even for a second, that he’ll be back in the ring. Otherwise there wouldn’t be a third installment of this successful spinoff of the Rocky franchise. The catalyst for Creed’s unretirement is old friend, Damian “Dame” Anderson (Jonathan Majors). Anderson used to be an aspiring boxer himself, before committing a crime that sent him to prison for two decades, one that Creed was somewhat involved in.
As with the other Creed and Rocky stories, this film adds a personal dimension to jumpstart the rivalry and tension in the ring. In Creed II (2018), the rival was Ivan Drago—Rocky’s old foe—training his son to avenge his long-ago defeat at Rocky’s hands. This time it’s the guilt that Creed feels for what happened to Anderson. That backstory is obvious from the beginning but is unveiled slowly via flashbacks throughout the film. By the time the full story is revealed, though, it has lost most of its significance and the psychological payoff for the character is less impactful. It’s just one of the underwhelming choices made by screenwriters Keegan Coogler and Zach Baylin.
Jordan makes an assured debut as a director. He knows how to make the story entertaining, though he’s unconcerned with making it his own. Why change something that has worked for decades across two film series? Here he uses some aesthetic flourishes in the boxing scenes, but he mostly sticks to what has worked in previous iterations. That is, he retains the series’ visceral feel for the boxing scenes. While the story of getting Creed and Anderson into the ring might suffer from too many easy narrative beats, once they get there, the film kicks into a second, better gear. Jordan and cinematographer Kramer Morgenthau (Creed II, Respect) film the boxing scenes with an intimacy that gives the audience a real sense of the arena and the athletes inside it. It’s all there in dazzling closeup: muscles flexing, teeth falling out, and blood flowing in slow motion. But it’s not all about the punches; the close-ups of the fighters add dimensionality and emotion to the charged atmosphere.
A lot of the intensity in Creed III comes courtesy of Majors. He’s having a big 2023 with Creed III, Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania and his much talked-about performance in Magazine Dreams, which premiered at January’s Sundance Film Festival. Here, he brings passionate commitment to his performance, rising above the obviousness of his character’s backstory. Anderson is a big and blustery personality, just what a boxing movie needs in an antagonist. If he’s written with broad strokes and pat psychology, Majors still manages to make Anderson the main attraction. There’s a scene about halfway through the film where Anderson reveals his true colors to Creed. It’s a grand piece of showmanship, with Majors strutting around and speechifying. The scene is a tad cartoonish but also highly entertaining with shades of comic book villainy. Majors takes it and gives the audience a memorable movie moment. And Jordan cedes it completely to Majors, showing his generosity as a performer and a director. The scene encapsulates their onscreen dynamic. Creed might be the eponymous character but it’s hard to look at anyone else when Majors is onscreen.
Elsewhere, Jordan has good chemistry with Thompson. In the early scenes they sell the blissful existence of the Creeds, something that could’ve quickly become cloying. Thompson is so relaxed that she helps sell Creed’s knotty psychology as he deals with guilt and loss. However she’s saddled with the most uninteresting aspects of the marriage subplot and the script offers her character nothing beyond supportive wife clichés. All the more impressive that she’s able to convey so much with only a few lines that hint at where Bianca is at this stage in her life. There’s also good character work from Wood Harris, returning as Creed’s trainer, and Selenis Leyva as a young boxer’s momager that give the scenes set at the gym a realistic sheen.
Creed III captures the spectacle and ceremony of boxing, providing the audience with an entertaining thrill ride. It doesn’t reinvent the wheel, owing much to its predecessors in the Rocky and Creed series in story structure and character development. The film announces Jordan as a serious filmmaker who will hopefully challenge himself with more distinct material for his next outing.
41 Comments
He’s come a long way from being shot by Bodie for being a fool.
I liked the Creed movies, but my only temptation to see it in the theater is Majors. He has been the main presence in every show/ movie I’ve seen him in.
I still hold out hope for another season of Lovecraft Country.
That’s what I know him from.
I dunno, we tend to forget how uneven that show was because it was gone too soon
Didn’t you get the message? This site is supposed to hate everything about Quantumania.Several reviews say that Jordan’s love of anime becomes clear in the climactic fight, and I’m very interested to see just what they mean by that.
I’ve been really really enjoying watching people get upset while defending Quantumania. It’s this amazing and embarrassing thing. You’re actually upset that a mega-franchise isn’t being universally liked. You realize people get paid to do what your doing right now?
It’s just so fascinating to see how far Mickey Mouse has his dick up some peoples asses.
Your actually shilling for a mega-franchise right now in your spare time. That’s embarrassing. Like it’s actually upsetting you hahahahahaha that’s so funny. Your actually upset about something in the mainstream not being liked. Get a new identity my guy.
Still needing that hug, man?Seriously though, you alright? You’re not typically so “fight me, fanboy” antagonistic about Marvel.NOTE: I haven’t seen Quantumania, because apparently that matters.
Take your meds, bro. You sound like a guy on a street corner yelling at passerby.
See the movie, and maybe I’ll let what you have to say take up space in my head.
Your anti-Disney rants here alone, show that Mickey lives rent-free in your head more than he has his dick up some buttholes.
It’s really, really weird! It’s exactly as dumb as “console wars” shit over on Kotaku (which most people seem to have graduated past, prolly because they figured out it was precisely as lame as it always has been).
At least the console wars gave us some great episodes of South Park.
Seriously, like devote all that energy into something else useful. I never cared that passionately for what someone else chooses to watch/play. I barely have time to watch/play everything in my own backlog.
Weird nerds gonna nerd weirdly.
Your posting on this over the past several days has seemed genuinely unhinged. Seriously, without snark or anger: get help.
I’ve seen cinema equipment that doesn’t project as strongly as you do.
pro athletes get paid handsomely to wear name brand clothes in public. You are doing the exact same thing right now for free for Disney.
This review has nothing to do with Ant Man. This is a movie about boxing.
Sure, but this article might mark the very first time AV Club has mentioned it in the two weeks since release without discussing how much they hated it and what’s wrong with Marvel and so forth.
I refer you back to my prior comment
Cool.
Creed: Now we will fight it is only our fists that will decide who is the better warrior mm-hmm.
Bad Guy: ELECTRIC FIREBALLLLLLLLL!!!!
Don’t mention that this came from Rocky. It’s racist.
Is there any merit to all the reviews on the A.V. Club switching over to play-by-play recaps? I’m planning to see this so why do I need to read a detailed synopsis two days before it’s released? Like fine whatever but why even bother releasing these beforehand?
They have writers now who aren’t capable of analyzing films or shows with any depth. When they write play-by-plays, at least be grateful they aren’t trying to sermonize about how a cast wasn’t diverse enough or some horseshit.
That’s why I always read the title of the article, then skip down to the comments.
I was in a grad school program for cultural criticism, and even when I was in it I thought “Is this really necessary? Do people need special training for this?” And only recently have I come around to the fact that the answer is a whole-hearted “yes.”Still… not a ton of money to be made in writing movie and music reviews these days, so no one’s going to spend the money to study it… so here we are.
I’ve been catching up on It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia and I’m currently on season 11 which aired in 2016. I’d forgotten how good the AV Club reviews were back then. The episode reviews are well thought out and insightful, far superior to the “and this happened, and then this happened, and then this happened” reviews of today.
Whenever I plan to watch something and want to avoid spoilers/keep myself as in the dark as possible, I will just scroll down to the letter grade and then come back to read the actual review after I watch whatever it is.
I am begging headline writers to use a word other than “knockout” for Creed III reviews. Please.
Especially in this review, which basically says “isn’t a knockout but goes the distance and packs a wallop” … “TKO” would’ve sufficed.
Every time an article uses dumb puns like that, I think of Tyler Durden asking “how’s that working out for you? Being clever?”
How about “TKO” which technically is different from “knockout”
I really thought these guys were so much better than this. That headline and then “goes the distance” makes me feel like I’m reading the New York Post. I it’s hitting below the belt for me to say, but you should really throw in the towel.
“By Gawd! Here comes ‘Creed III’ with the steel chair … of quality filmmaking!”
I’m still pissed that Hollywood passed on my original treatment for Creed, which I submitted with the title Black Rocky.
As long as Jordan’s directing sticks to the required Rocky film rules of the boxers landing 98% of the 550 punches they throw, this film should be on a my watch list.
It would be funny if they did a realistic heavyweight fight where the boxers throw pillow punches for 30 seconds then tie each other up for the rest of the round.
I bet Majors has an absolute thundercock of the gods
This film should get the same rating appropriate to all Michael B. Jordan films: number of retainers bitten through when he appears shirtless.