The former World Heavyweight Champion Rocky Balboa serves as a trainer and mentor to Adonis Johnson, the son of his late friend and former rival Apollo Creed.
... the heart of the film: identity and family, the legacies you inherit and the legacies you create. It's also a marvelously satisfying, old-fashioned, underdog boxing movie
Creed could easily become the foundation for a franchise, allowing Sylvester Stallone to age gracefully and take up less space on the screen, while still conveying that punch-drunk wisdom.
Creed is a film that respects the Rocky franchise, made by someone who seems to have a genuine love for the franchise and understands why people loved the very first film.
Hot damn! Fruitvale Station director Coogler, 29, turbocharges the Rocky franchise. Jordan is stellar. And so irresistible is Stallone's blend of tough and tender that Oscar should give him points. Yo, Academy!
Whether the credit goes to the director or the actor or both, this is the performance of Stallone's career, one in which that age-defying orange body stays covered up but his sadness is in full view.
Stallone is not only giving his best performance to since Rocky, but Michael B. Jordan has fully established himself as a leading man to be reckoned with.
Anyone hoping the franchise might open out into new thematic territory will be disappointed; this is the same old ritual, from the amped-up training sequences to the climactic title fight with its absurd number of punches landed in every round.
