Creed 3 Review: Champion, Yet Again
Creed 3 delivers where its predecessor fell, while also failing to rise the heights of the original.
Following the critically acclaimed Creed, praised specifically for its ability to advance the Rocky franchise while still delivering a unique story with passion and heart, and the less authentic yet still successful sequel, Creed 3 had the expectation to impress. With Michael B. Jordan behind the camera as well as blessing audiences with a stellar performance in front of it, both Adonis and the film’s director had something to prove. By the end of the film, the audience will be confident they’ve done just that, albeit with a level of predictability and bloat that may be unavoidable for a franchise now nine movies deep.
Opening on a flashback, one could not be blamed for being nervous in those first minutes. How many stories have a character who comes back into the fray to engage with and define our protagonist, and how many of them have succeeded? There is a necessity to care about both characters that is difficult to execute in a single film, and spending two whole movies with Adonis, one would expect him to at least…mention his second half? That common complaint would be an issue if it were not for the film’s solid storytelling, concrete understanding of Creed as a character, and Jordan’s careful attention to detail as a director.
Adonis Creed is on the top of the boxing world yet again, and now he plans to leave it behind, retiring a world champ. Similarly, his wife Bianca has passed performing, working as a producer instead of a singer. While both promise contentment, they also share an underlying craving to get back to their dreams, their passions, their lives. This glimpse of insecurity, this connection to the past, is compounded by the arrival of Darian, Creed’s childhood friend we see arrested in the aforementioned flashback. As a result, Creed comes face to face with a past he is too afraid to confront, just as he is too afraid to open himself up to those he loves. At the same time, Darian is ready for his chance in the ring just as Creed reluctantly leaves it. Meaning, Creed 3 begins with a strong narrative and thematic framework for the rest of the film to build upon. The film’s messages and themes are established as pieces of a larger puzzle that is satisfyingly united by the film’s climactic, and inevitable, showdown between Adonis and his new/old rival.
The journey Creed goes on almost matches the heart of the original. Michael B. Jordan cries like he never has before when presented with the typical philosophical musings of wise old boxers and some of his most difficult challenges yet. While Creed 2 told its audience how Adonis hurts, Creed 3 shows it with confidence and creativity, that is, when it opts to deviate from its franchise predictability. While the film may oscillate between predictability and innovation, the writing quality remains more concrete. Creed is defined by his surrounding characters; Bianca, Darian, his daughters, all of these characters inform Creed as a fighter and as a man. His interactions with these richly developed characters motivates an arc that is one to one with the film’s themes, creating an emotionally and thematically satisfying story by its conclusion through a well written main arc.
While Creed and Jordan may be the stars of this show, it is now impossible to think of Creed without thinking of his evil twin, Darian. Formidable and reserved, Johnathan Majors presents a character who appears sinister in everything he doesn’t do, in everything he chooses to withhold. He is not a rage monster, we do not even see him fight for a solid chunk of screentime, yet he remains terrifying from the outset. He first appears in a hoodie against Creed’s Rolls Royce fresh out of prison, a visual distinction that brings to life the dividing line between the two characters while also introducing another of the film’s themes: racial inequality.
A victim of the prison industrial complex, Darian feels as though his life had been stolen from him, while Creed continued to wear his skin and achieve the same dreams that now obsessively control the ex-convict. And he has a right to be upset. 18 years in a cell for threatening an abusive foster parent is the type of crime many people would commit themselves, and the fact that Darian took that fall for Creed is all the more damning for our protagonist. While Creed’s lavish lifestyle acted as nothing more than visual splendor, a narrative weakness, and an attack on the original’s celebrated heart in Creed 2, here the production design serves a thematic purpose. Creed lives a life many, many people never do, and the film is not entirely afraid to critique our hero for forgetting his roots. However, this may be the one thematic thread I found slightly underdeveloped. Besides Darian’s motivation and slightly on the nose dialogue regarding Adonis’ unique race and class position, it is difficult to give a definitive statement on the film’s behalf regarding this topic. Creed still wins, he remains friends with Darian, and his life still rules, but at least he remembers his roots, for whatever that may be worth.
The understandable motivation checks one of the many boxes that makes a great villain, another being their ability to expose the hero’s weakness. Again, despite some hiccups, Creed 3 continues to demonstrate its writing prowess by too satisfying this requirement. Without delving into spoilers, Darian is a literal manifestation of Creed’s greatest fear and conduit for his toxic behaviors. By clashing in the ring, Creed must literally defeat his weakness in order to grow, change, and enact the film’s core themes. Threatening, thematically sound, and the only character who can best our hero on mentally, physically and emotionally, Darian is a stand out of the film.
Darian’s threatening presence is exemplified by the visuals that tell a story of their own, as well as dialogue that both hides and reveals with every word. This level of cinematic and written quality is, as previously mentioned, mostly consistent throughout the film, but shines brightest during Darian and Adonis’ first conversation in 18 years. Sat at a diner, Darian throws verbal jabs with little mentions at how he’s “surprised [Creed] you still come around here.” Adonis’ half hearted smile and Darian’s poisonous laugh both subtly exude powerful emotions that remain on the back burner, being fueled by each other’s words while remaining underneath the surface. It’s perfect subtext that creates a strong level of tension in a scene that, if read on paper without the brilliant acting, would seem passive. However, the dialogue, and the capturing of that dialogue, soaks this friendly reunion with dread, deceit, and cynicism. High angle close-ups on a solemn “mhm” or a seemingly friendly quip create a thick tension that would be weakened if not for the framing. The cinematography visualizes the subtext harmoniously, meaning all cinematic fronts are working together to create a scene that drips with the intended effect of the clearly talented director.
However, that level of quality only exposes the film’s weakness. Pacing is not one of Creed 3’s strengths. The first half of the film feels narratively light, as events seem so spread out to make room for the necessary emotional groundwork. This leaves the second half feeling bloated, and the midpoint in particular coming off as shallow with how everything, and I mean everything, manages to go wrong for Creed in a matter of minutes while we just spent the last fifty waiting for something of consequence to take place. Creed 3 also falls victim to franchise fatigue with a predictable outcome. As a result, side plots are left underdeveloped and the ending a rush, but what a rush that is.
The climactic fight is worth the ticket price alone. The fight scenes in Creed 3 enlivens the film with the innovation a ninth film in a franchise necessitates. Shot like a video game cutscene or anime fight with slow motion, speed ramps, and reality warping special effects, the fight scenes in Creed 3 are on another level of kinetic. The handheld shaky cam has been criticized for its lack of clarity in action scenes, and Creed 3 only further demonstrates that there are more truly creative ways to make a fight scene land: make it personal, and make it fun.
And ultimately, that’s what Creed 3 is. While never matching the personality of the original yet soaring past the commerciality of the second, Creed 3 stands tall as a champion of sports movies despite its lackluster components. Is it predictable? Yes, but would we want a Rocky film without a climactic final battle? And how can one complain when it's shot as well as it is, with truly innovative techniques and styles? Then again, the resulting bloat of following tradition is certainly worth critiquing. Meaning, Creed 3 gives the audiences exactly what they wanted, a bit of what they didn’t know they needed, and some of what they knew exactly what they didn’t.