Creed III: a movie review by Alex First
After retiring from the ring three years ago, Adonis Creed (Michael B. Jordan) lives to fight another day in Creed III.
The film starts back in the day when Creed (Thaddeus James Mixson Jr), aged 15 was running around with his best friend, 18-year-old Damian Anderson (Spence Moore II), a boxing prodigy.
And then a violent incident served to separate the pair.
Of course, as we found out in earlier instalments of the franchise, Creed would go on to become the undisputed heavyweight champion of the world.
Married to the singer, now producer Bianca (Tessa Thompson), the pair has a smart young daughter Amara (Mila Davis-Kent). Life seems pretty good for all concerned.
Creed is operating a boxing academy and managing a world champion, Felix Chavez (Jose Benavidez).
The latter is a bit of a hothead, who is looking to his next fight, a title defence against man-mountain Viktor Drago (Florian Munteaunu).
And then, who should show up unexpectedly? None other than Damian Anderson (Jonathan Majors), who has just been released from prison after spending 18 years inside.
Despite his ageing years, Anderson is still looking for a title shot. He prevails upon Creed, who appears to have abandoned Anderson after he was sent to the slammer.
Although Creed tries to help Anderson, the former’s equilibrium has clearly been thrown and before this is over it will be thrown even more.
Another thread involves Creed’s mother, Mary-Anne’s (Phylicia Rashad) serious health concern.
I liked the set-up in Creed III, which is directed by the film’s star, Michael B. Jordan. I thought the contention was engaging, as was the family dynamic.
So, the first half moved along at pace and drew me in, establishing the main players and what was going down.
At that stage, it wasn’t clear where the plot trajectory was headed and I appreciated that.
But then, after a twist, I was let down by the by-the-numbers back end.
There was nothing surprising about the run home. In fact, the predictability of it was disappointing, especially so given the momentum built up earlier.
Now that had nothing to do with the acting – which was fine – rather the script. The screenplay is by Keenan Coogler (Space Jam: A New Legacy) and Zach Baylin (King Richard).
Michael B. Jordan has a good handle on Adonis Creed. In that guise, he puts it well late in the movie when he tells his wife that she has a better handle on “feelings”. In turn, he struggles to open up about his past.
Tessa Thompson is insightful as Bianca. The latter deeply loves her husband “Donnie”, but also challenges him.
Mila Davis-Kent plays their daughter Amara as cute and feisty.
Jonathan Majors transitions Damian Anderson from appreciative and respectful to cavalier and cocky.
In boxing parlance then, while Creed III punches above its weight for a time, it fails to deliver a knockout blow.
Rated M, it scores a 6½ out of 10. Runtime 16 minutes
