Given how successful Creed was, even getting Stallone an Oscar nomination, naturally a sequel was to soon follow. However, both Ryan Coogler and Michael B. Jordan went on to make the highly successful Black Panther, delaying the sequel. While Jordan was able to reprise his role, Coogler stepped down as director and was replaced by Steven Caple Jr. Caple got some attention with his feature film debut, 2016’s The Land, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival. It seems like they wanted to hire an indie director similar to how Coogler got to direct the first film. Anyway, most of the cast from the original film returns, with Dolph Lundgren returning as Ivan Drago from Rocky IV. This film would be about the son of Apollo Creed going up against the son of Ivan Drago. So how does this sequel compare to the original film that helped revive the franchise?
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Rating
After losing the big fight against “Pretty” Ricky Conlon three years ago, Adonis Creed (Michael B. Jordan) is rising up. He manages to accumulate several victories under his belt, and even beats the current World Heavyweight Champion. Meanwhile, former Soviet fighter Ivan Drago (Dolph Lundgren) is living in exile after being defeated by Rocky several decades ago. He’s been training his son Viktor (Florian Munteanu) in the hopes that he can become champion and redeem their name. When an opportunity arises for Viktor to fight Adonis for the World Heavyweight Championship, Adonis agrees much to Rocky’s disapproval. Feeling betrayed, Adonis goes on to fight Viktor and subsequently gets pounded into oblivion, though Viktor is ultimately disqualified. Now broken physically and emotionally, Adonis must pick himself back up and realize what’s most important in his life. Eventually, Rocky (Sylvester Stallone) decides to help Adonis retrain to take down Viktor for good.
Given how great the previous film was and how it reinvigorated the franchise, this had some big shoes to fill. First thing to mention is the performances, once again, are phenomenal, especially from returning actors Jordan, Stallone, Rashad, and Thompson. In addition, it’s great to see Dolph Lundgren return to the role that made him a star in 1985. Speaking of, while not as intimidating as Lundgren was, Florian Munteanu is still an imposing figure that dominates his scenes. Much like before, what really makes this film work are the more human elements and the hard-hitting drama. Given the circumstances behind the fight between Adonis and Viktor, there’s much more at stake than simply the championship title. It’s interesting to see how these characters from a very cartoonish entry like Rocky IV have evolved and grown. You really feel for why the Dragos are as vengeful as they are.
If there’s any negatives to the film, they’re few and far between and very minor compared to the positives. For one, the movie can be somewhat formulaic and copies some elements from the previous films, especially II and III. Still, even if it does borrow from the other films, it still does it well to stand on its own. Also, while the first Creed had a very real urban quality to it, this one is sorely lacking in that. Despite those negatives, this is still a fantastic film and a great continuation of what the first film established. Like before, there’s a great father-son relationship between Rocky and Adonis that’s also paralleled with Ivan and Viktor’s relationship. While there most likely will be a third film, it’s going to be tough to follow up the previous films. Overall, Creed II is somewhat formulaic but still succeeds as a follow-up.
