Most critics agree that Creed is a return to form for the Rocky franchise. Thumbs up have been given to Sylvester Stallone again playing former World Heavyweight Champion Rocky Balboa who this time remains ringside.
Stallone managed to box on in the previous Balboa that proved successful enough to allow this seventh installment to be produced.
This time around, Rocky is trainer and mentor to Adonis Johnson played Michael B. Jordon. The connection between the two is that Johnson is the disgruntled son of Rocky’s late buddy and former ring-rival Apollo Creed.
JUDGEMENT
“The smelling salts have been delivered by Ryan Coogler and Michael B. Jordan, the directing/acting duo who made their mark with the excellent Fruitvale Station. That their second act should be to revamp a franchise that started before they were even born is surprising, but welcome. And if, at times, Creed follows the tracks of the first Rocky a little too reverently, it’s no mere retread. There’s a different energy at play here.” Chris Hewitt, Empire
@
“It’s one of his (Sylvester Stallone’s) best performances – worlds away from the grimacing heroics of the Expendables franchise. Life for Rocky, a widower in declining health, has come full circle, and he finds himself essentially occupying the function of Burgess Meredith from the first three films: ringside vaseline application, with some salty wisdom and pathos thrown in.” Tim Robey, Telegraph
@
“It may be easy to predict where the film takes us, but that doesn’t reduce the power and enormity of the emotional responses it gets from the audience. This is a crowd-pleaser that takes its time building its character-driven universe. There are as many quietly effective moments as there are stand-up-and-cheer moments, and they’re all handled with skill and dexterity on both sides of the camera.” Odie Henderson, rogerebert.com
@
“It’s clear Stallone loves this character dearly. Rocky Balboa is his baby, after all. He made him up, breathed life into him, and Rocky made Sylvester Stallone immensely successful. What we love about Rocky is that he was a sweetheart who’d give you the shirt off his back—all heart. Creed is the realest Stallone’s been as an actor, probably since … well … Rocky.” Mark Jackson, Epoch Times
@
“… Creed is also necessarily fresh, giving beneficial tweaks to an old formula. Audiences will still likely see every punch coming from a mile away, but what’s remarkable is how the movie lands them all: It’s an invigorating piece of nostalgia that fuels a bigger adrenaline rush with its climax than any big-budget blockbuster could provide.” David Sims, The Atlantic
@
“One of the instincts you develop in the job of a critic is defense. The ability to guard against the jabs of cheap sentiment is essential if one wants to stay in the match — or to at least know what hit him. And so it is with some surprise that I admit to being fairly knocked out by Creed, a movie that is not just about boxing, which I have never cared about, but also is a sequel to the Rocky franchise, which I pretty much gave up on 25 years ago, roundabout Rocky V. ” Michael O’Sullivan, The Washington Post
@
“[Director] Coogler’s expert long takes and use of slow-motion give the proceedings a visual jolt, and Stallone (suitably crusty and world-weary) and Jordan (all fury and resentment) fulfill their roles as kindred warriors fighting their way out of self-created prisons. Unfortunately, his story is so beholden to its Rocky legacy that it never feels like more than a barely updated spin on musty material.” Nick Schager, Daily Beast
What about you, how do you rate Creed?
See a Creed video review by Chris Stuckmann: