Creed 2

Creed 2 is the 8th Rocky film. That's just ridiculous when you think about it. This franchise should have died in 1989 when the deathly dull Rocky 5 slithered out. It was a horrible watch after the silly jingoistic fun of Rocky IV. Everyone expected it to be the end. We never thought we'd see the Philly pug again. Then 17 years later Rocky Balboa came out. Everyone assumed it would be an embarrassment. Happily it turned out to be a delight and a return to the emotion packed early installments. It felt like a fitting swansong for the character but another 9 years later the franchise got a kind of, sort of reboot with Creed. Again it was a fantastic film and one that put us fans through the grinder as we watched the hero we'd grown up with battle cancer while training a new leading man. Seeing Stallone getting an Oscar nomination felt deserved, it felt right seeing the franchise come full circle back to it's Oscar winning beginnings. The new blood injected by director Ryan Coogler and new leading man Michael B. Jordan meant another installment was a foregone conclusion. Now Creed II is here courtesy of director Steven Caple. Jr and I'm delighted to say it's carrying on the series brilliantly.

Adonis Creed (Jordan) has put his defeat to Ricky Conlon behind him and is currently on top of the world with Rocky Balboa (Stallone) in his corner and Bianca Taylor (Tessa Thompson) by his side. Bianca's music career is taking off and everything is alright in the Creed part of the universe. The only fly in the ointment is Viktor Drago, a Russian boxer looking to take on the new champ. Viktor's Da is Ivan. Ivan Drago. The man who killed Apollo Creed in the ring 31 years previously. It's a fight that has bad idea written all over it but Adonis is determined to somehow avenge his father's death despite Rocky's protestations.

I loved this. The 8th installment in a 42 year old franchise has no right being this good. When you've been watching a series of films all your life you build an emotional attachment with the people in them and even though Rocky is now a supporting character I couldn't help but get totally caught up in proceedings just like in the first Creed film. It feels like a gift to the fans who've stayed loyal to the franchise. Apollo looms large despite his death 31 years before, it's full of nods and callbacks to the earlier movies and a very unexpected cameo which will make you laugh or groan or both. It's a perfect blend of the best of the series. The slice of the life aspects of the early films crossed with the bombast of the 3rd and 4th film. It all fits together beautifully and by the end you'll be bobbing and weaving in your seat and fighting the urge to punch the sky. I won't lie, one perfectly timed blast of music brought a tear to my eye. 

Even though there's been 3 films between them this one is a spiritual sequel to part IV. Sadly there's no montage of running up snowy mountains to the sounds of "Heart's On Fire" but thankfully there's no robot either. Oh that Robot. Jesus that was a low point. A Drago is the opponent again but this time he isn't a one dimensional villain like Ivan was in part 4. His reasons for fighting and his father's reasons for pushing him make sense and add a retroactive kind of poignancy to the histrionics of part IV. A quiet restaurant scene where Ivan and Rocky come face to face for the first time in 30 years is electric and contains acting I never thought Dolph Lundgren would be capable of. He's still a bastard but he's a more understandable bastard than the emotionless killer robot we saw before.

Michael B. Jordan is superb. In two films he's created a character we can genuinely feel empathy for. A big hardy fella on the outside but still a little boy broken by his father's untimely demise inside. You'll want him to do well. You'll want to see him win. You'll hurt when you feel him sprawled and bloody. You'll smile when he realises he's about to have the happiest day of his life. Tessa Thompson as Bianca is great too. She's no mouse like Adrian was. She's her own woman with her own things going on but she's still unwavering in her support of Adonis. Her external fragility complimenting his internal fragility making them a formidable pairing. Their scenes together bring a bucketload of love to the film. But Rocky is the heart. He always has been. Stallone takes a step back here and Rocky feels like far more of a supporting character than before but every time he appears it feels like a wave of nostalgia crashing over you. His crooked hat, the stumbling gait, the slight slur, he's created a character you feel really protective of. Rocky ain't in the ring anymore but he's still fighting his own battles. Sitting in the graveyard at Adrian's grave, speaking of loss and regret. He's such a good actor when he has the right material. 

If Stallone was to step away from the franchise for the next film it would feel right. Michael B.Jordan is a powerful actor and one strong enough to carry the series going forward. This film feels like a passing of the baton. I'd be sad to see him go but I'm confident of the future of the series. This one though, I loved it. It's blasted into my year top 10 easily. It had everything. A few laughs, stress, a lot of tension, blisteringly brutal and clearly shot fights and yes, tears too. It had everything a Rocky fan could ever want. Except a Clubber Lang cameo......... but no scratch that, he killed Mickey so I'm glad he didn't appear. It's as good a sequel as you could imagine.