The greatest challenge that Adonis Creed must face / Michael B. Jordan in his third film installment is not that sin of youth embodied in the figure of Damian Anderson/ Jonathan Majorsbut to show that he can fly alone, without the shadow of Rocky Balboa/ Sylvester Stallone.
Creed III It is clearly a continuation film with the previous two. It is true that Stallone it’s unrelated to the film, but there’s a lot of Rocky spirit in the story. In addition, Jordan, in his jump to management, has known how to accompany the team that had given the franchise wise news in the first part of this spin off. So, for example, we have Ryan Cooglerwho remains as producer and one of the creators of the initial plot, as well as Kramer Morgenthaudirector of photography for the second installment, or Joseph Shirleycomposer taking over the score here after composing additional music for the franchise with his mentor, Ludwig Göransson.
The script
The script may seem somewhat hasty to us due to the way in which events rush, but, true to the spirit of Stallone, there are several dramatic elements in the background that serve as a conflict and that will end up detonating in the final combat. Here the feeling of guilt prevails. Adonis’s guilt for having abandoned his childhood friend, but also the guilt of some of the characters for having abandoned their dreams in the face of the vicissitudes of life.
In this third installment, Jordan delves into the darkest facet of his character, in that childhood full of anger and resentment for the absence of his father. This is a twilight Adonis, who has already peaked in his career and has now hung up his gloves to dedicate himself more to the boxing business. On the other hand, there is a confrontation very typical of the saga between hero and villain, although here the roles are reversed. One represents boxing as a sport, calibrated and strategic, while the other represents the gaze of the tiger, the hunger for ambition, the fury unleashed. Adonis is not Rocky, he is a 21st century boxer, educated and trained. He also represents another type of masculinity, more emotional.
Secondary characters
Although the film tries to give development space to the secondary characters (Bianca, Amara, their daughter, Duke and, especially, Mary Anne who is once again splendidly interpreted by Phylicia Rashad); What is certain is that the axis of this film swings between the two opponents. It is Adonis and Damian who pull the dramatic conflict and the chemistry between the two actors is formidable. Jonathan Majors He has managed to stand out in villain roles in his latest films and here he knows how to give Damian not only great physicality, but he also wonderfully represents the dramatic dilemma that his character brings to the saga.
Michael B. Jordan He makes his debut as a director, maintaining the aesthetic keys of the two previous films, with a more emphatic narrative that is recreated, even more if possible, in the physiognomy of the two boxers, sculpted in the gym as Greek statues. As a filmmaker, he has brought some foreign aspects to the saga, such as a certain anime narrative, which is evident above all in the fighting. How correct, raising the bar above its decaffeinated second installment.
There is only one moment when Jordan it gets carried away with innovation and, in our opinion, is where the film loses its way. In the middle of the final combat, as a Freudian resource, Jordan transforms physical combat into dreamlike combat, an idea that might be striking on paper, but that, on screen, breaks the dramatic tension of the film’s climactic moment. This break with the realism of the film in favor of a fantasy component breaks the tone of the film in a forced and, in our opinion, calamitous way.
Music
As in the previous ones, and following in the wake of Rocky, the film also relies heavily on the use of music, especially the songs that also serve to further root these films in African-American culture. Joseph Shirley makes a very emphatic use of the musical score, although it misses Göransson and let alone Bill Conti.
Michael B. Jordan He is an actor who has grown over the years and has been able to provide a dramatic background to his role as Adonis, however, there is a lack that differentiates Creed from Balboa. Being Stallone a more limited actor, precisely with Rocky what he achieved was to maintain a semi-autobiographical discourse throughout the entire saga. Through the Italian Colt, the star reflected on his life and turned the boxer into his private spokesperson. That component was maintained in the spin offs while Stallone It was there; however, despite this leap of maturity in the character of Adonis, we miss that intimate connection between actor and character.
Now, after three installments, it seems to us that the saga of Creed is already exhausted, this third installment being a good time to close what, on the other hand, has been a new irregular and low-flying journey after its promising first installment.