Creed

Okay, I'm sorry I took a detour with my rant on the Captain America Civil War trailer, but we're back onto Creed and its a good thing to. Because I'll be upfront with you all. This movie was awesome.

Like I said in my review of Rocky Balboa, I've never seen any of the other Rocky movies. Creed wasn't really on my radar of movies I was dying to see. I figured it might be a good movie but I wasn't going to go out of my way to see it. Then a friend calls me up and says that he wants to go see it. I obviously say yes. I thought that I'd get a decent sports movie. Decent a strong enough movie for it though.

Creed follows the story of Adonis Johnson (played by Michael B Jordan). Adonis is the illegitimate son of Apollo Creed a famous boxer who is best known in the Rocky universe as the rival and friend of Rocky in previous movies (While I haven't seen those movies, I know the relationship and its pretty well established in this movie so you don't need to have seen those movies to understand whats going on).

Adonis (or Donnie) grows up raised by Apollo Creed's widow in California. He lives a pretty privileged life but he wants to go off and be a boxer. However, he doesn't want anybody to know that he's the son of Apollo Creed as he wants to make his reputation on his own merits.

He moves to Philadelphia and tracks down Rocky Balboa and asks him to train him. The rest of the movie is your pretty straight forward, formulaic boxing Rocky movie. He finds a challenge that everyone says he shouldn't take, but of course he does. Training montage, and final fight.

HOWEVER.

This movie blows Rocky Balboa out of the water because it has a perfect dash of old and new while creating interesting, new characters, developing old ones perfectly, and bringing a story that it just compelling and makes you really care for all the characters on screen.

Whereas Rocky Balboa was about legacy and upholding it, Creed is more about making a new legacy. One that isn't tied down by the ghosts of the past but still honoring those that came before you.

I saw a review that said that it parallels well to the development of this movie as Creed wants to be its own movie and not be just another Rocky sequel, but at the same time it really honors what came before and builds off of it.

And this is mainly supported by the relationship between Donnie and Rocky. This relationship was just fantastic, from the very beginning.

The obvious performance to talk about is that of Michael B Jordan.

I know Michael B Jordan is a talented actor. I saw it in The Wire, his reputation in other things were just a great lead into what a great performance he did in this movie. Forget any bad thing he's been in (Fantastic Four) Michael B Jordan is a powerhouse actor who is on his way to becoming a huge thing.

The great part about this movie was the relationship Donnie has with the past of his family. Throughout the movie, you wonder why he fights, why he does the things he does and what it has to do with his biological father being Apollo Creed. The character is just written so well and Michael B Jordan acts it very well that its just entertaining and you empathize with him from the very beginning. He's your underdog, your hero, but he's willing to put in the time and energy to train and become the best. Too often Hollywood movies will give the sympathy to the hero for the sole fact that he is the hero, but Donnie trains hard for what he wants and he's a great character. Again, its the element of making a name for yourself in the shadow of the greats. And Michael B Jordan kills it.

And then there's Rocky.

This movie has made me take back every joke, every doubt, every word of hate I ever said about the acting of Sylvester Stallone. Despite the obnoxious mumbling, despite looking like he had a stroke, Stallone brings it in this movie. I was pretty impressed with his job in Rocky Balboa, I loved his part in Creed. It makes me want to go back and watch every single Rocky movie, and they are all on Netflix, so you might have to expect at least one or two of those movies getting a review in the next few weeks (If I can catch up on my backlog).

From the very beginning, just like Donnie, Rocky is a complex character. And they do a perfect job of having him take the backseat. This is not a Rocky movie. This is definitely a movie about Donnie Johnson. However, it definitely is a movie set in the Rocky universe and its definitely a Rocky movie... if that makes any sense whatsoever.

I'm hearing buzz that Stallone might be nominated for this movie and I really hope he does. He does a great job revitalizing a character that had become a joke in the past decade and making him someone we really do care about. Will he win an Oscar? I don't think so, but I definitely think he should at least be in the conversation.

There are other characters in the movie but the real drama and story comes from the relationship between these two. They're great characters on their own, they're even better when they start figuring out what the other one means to them and really become a great team.

It really is a seamless transition as you basically see Rocky handing over the franchise to Donnie and I'm really looking forward to more movies following this character. But if Rocky makes another appearance in the next film, I'm going to be really happy because these two make the film.

There's his girlfriend, there's his mom, there's the opponents he faces. But the real emotion is in the relationship between Rocky and Donnie and while its probably something that has been seen in movies before, again formulaic, its done so well in this movie that it doesn't matter.

And I suppose that gets us into the fights. Now if you've watched Rocky movies (at least Rocky Balboa) you'll know that there actually isn't a lot of fights in these movies. A lot of the movie is just training and character drama and development. While there are really only two fights in this movie, the movie trots along perfectly and its so good. The dilemmas these characters face are interesting, they're acted well and they make for a really good story throughout.

But the fights themselves are fantastic. I mentioned in Rocky Balboa that those fights were filmed like they were on a Pay-Per-View screen. And that's a creative way to do, especially since Pay-Per-View was bigger in 2006 and just becoming a big thing.

But the cinematography in this movie with the fights was amazing I had to mention it. If you're a fan of my blog, you'll know that I'm not incredibly versed in cinematography. I know what is good and what isn't but I couldn't tell you why. So I don't usually mention it. However, I do mention it when I know a movie does the cinematography well and incredibly crafted.

There is one fight in this movie that I am convinced is one amazing tracking shot. I'm sure that they tried to put some kind of cut in there with movie magic, but I cannot for the life of me figure out when that cut was.

And while the rest of the fights aren't one tracking shot, they're still incredibly well done and it really gets you into the tension and feeling of the movie. I would only mention the cinematography if it directly made the movie better for me, and Creed is a great example of movie going experience that was made ten times better by the cinematography. The story is great, but it was incredibly complimented by the way this movie was shot.

Furthermore, this movie just pumped me up.

There seem to be at least one movie that comes out in the past few years that has been my motivation movie. The movie that I watch and it makes me want to go out and do something productive with my life instead of watching movies. Last year it was American Sniper, this year it is Creed.

Its also helped by the sound track. Rocky movies have had a little bit of a history with having kick ass pump up music in their movies that get you pumped up but I swear, I bought the soundtrack to this movie to work out to. That's how good the music is.

So the story is great, the movie is shot well, and the music pumps me up.

Overall, this movie is just down right good. I've heard people say best movie of the year, and I definitely think its on a Top 10 list for sure. In case you were wondering I will be doing a Top 10 list in January, that is coming up and depending on what the rest of December brings, we will see if Creed makes it. But for right now its just really damn good.

I guess a critique could be the formulaicness of the movie and how it really is just any other sports movie that you've seen before, but even that argument doesn't really hold water because of how they execute it and how well this movie is done.

Overall I loved Creed. If you haven't already, check it out.

But what did you think of Creed. Comment and Discuss below! You can also send me your thoughts on Twitter @cmhaugen24 as well as your thoughts for movies I should review in the future. If you subscribe you can get updates for future movie news and reviews as well as see live tweets from movies I'm watching and more.

I'll leave you with this. I'm gonna try and watch the first Rocky movie soon, but here's the trailer. Enjoy!