The main reason that I did not see Creed in theaters is because the same people who praised the melodramatic Southpaw lauded Creed. I am also a bit of a completist so even though I saw Rocky, I felt like I would have to watch all the sequels before watching Creed, and I just wasn’t in the mood.
Even though I did not see Creed in theaters, I had the next best viewing experience. I saw it with friends who enjoy boxing and saw the entire Rocky franchise so besides being great people, they were able to fill me in on any allusions that I would have missed if I watched Creed alone.
If I had realized that Ryan Coogler, the director of Fruitvale Station, directed Creed, I would have paid anything to see Creed, his second feature length movie, in theaters. I will not make that mistake again, but it does not hurt that Coogler’s next movie will be Black Panther, which everyone will see because Black Panther is a Marvel movie. If Creed is Coogler’s second film, how good will his movies be when he has more experience under his belt!?!
Creed is superb and stands on its own even though it is the seventh movie in a franchise. Other than Star Wars, I don’t think that any movie other than Creed can boast of being simultaneously a standalone success and worthy successor. Creed is a solid spin-off/sequel movie that evokes the best parts of Rocky while making something entirely different: reconciling privilege with pain, continuing a legacy while retaining your individuality and making the past feel urgently present as if it was an unseen character. Creed is an emotionally, richly textured film while hitting well-worn narrative paths for sport drama films about underdogs achieving glory.
Creed is about the son of Apollo Creed as he forges his own path in the professional boxing world. Even as the main character pushes to become a champion, there is a sense of foreboding that overshadows his glory. In many ways, Creed is a ghost story, and I love movies based in reality with supernatural elements. He is haunted by the spectre of the past, his father, who is very present in his absence (I adored one visual allusion that suddenly appears), but also by the ghost of his future in the form of Rocky, a role reprised by Sylvester Stallone. Rocky shows that victory in the ring does not mean victory in life even though. I really want to rewatch Rocky because I wonder how different the scenes between Rocky and his coach, Mickey, will seem in light of this performance. Stallone subtly evokes Burgess Meredith in his performance in Creed. The scenes between Michael B. Jordan and Sylvester Stallone are deliciously powerful. Creed deals with male relationships in a riveting manner. They heal each other then begin to fear the consequences of their emotional connection and to protect themselves from further loss, pull back from each other.
I can’t tell you whether or not you will enjoy Creed even if you hate boxing or sports generally, but I am a sports atheist with a soft spot for boxing. I loved Creed so much that I will make the time to rewatch Rocky, watch the subsequent five sequels then rewatch Creed. Whenever Creed flashed the stats of a boxer, I squealed with glee. It reminded me of the original Terminator for some reason. Creed is an energizing, elegiac movie that you should see immediately.