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Film Review: Creed III

Updated: Apr 20, 2023

Welcome back to the blog readers. It took a while but I finally got to see the newest installment in the Rocky/Creed franchise, Creed III. If there is one thing you should know about me, it's that I am not the biggest fan of boxing or MMA. And I am only a partial fan of wrestling, so my only real foray into combat sports is the Creed films. Directed by Michael B. Jordan (in his directorial debut!), he also stars alongside Tessa Thompson, Jonathan Majors, Wood Harris, Florian Munteanu, and Phylicia Rashad. In the film, a recently retired Adonis Creed comes face-to-face with his former best friend Damian Anderson, who has aspirations of becoming a fighter no matter the cost.


I will say it has been a long time since Creed II in late 2018, and I was wondering when we might be getting this one. Let me tell you guys something right now: it was damn well worth the wait. This film was utterly fantastic. From the performances to the boxing to the music, everything was perfect. I am so glad this franchise is back, because it fills me with such a joy.

For this to be Michael B. Jordan's directorial debut, this was really something special.


First off, let us tip out hats to the rookie director. Some of the creative choices that he makes are incredible, and it makes for some engaging and interesting content here. Certain angles and certain visuals he decides to go for create a world of his making. And that isn't even scratching the surface on his performance as Adonis Creed. I think this may be his best performance out of the three films so far, as he decided to let his character tear open the veil and as a result, we see inside of Donnie in a way we never have. We see pure rage and pure guilt pulled off seamlessly as we can easily buy into the character again. Michael B. Jordan has already proven himself as a world-class actor, and another stellar performance by him will definitely make him a Hollywood Hall-of-Famer.


I told you all a number of weeks ago that Jonathan Majors was going to be a star. Do you believe me now? Well you better, because like always, he is incredible in this film. In my review for Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania that he has a certain swagger about him, and brought that to his performance as Kang? Well he brought about quintuple the swagger to Damian Anderson. Not only can Dame be braggadocios, but he can also be ruthless and cunning. And Majors plays that again to perfection. I am so shocked with the level of talent this man has. Sometime in the next 10 years, this man will have an Oscar on his mantle. And at the prime age of 33, he will be here for a while. A long while. All of a sudden, I instantly cannot wait for his newest film Magazine Dreams.


I am definitely a fan of Tessa Thompson, and she gives one of the better performances of her career, as she has more emotional weight to carry here than in previous installments. She perfectly provides that level of emotional support and gravitas of her own and I cannot wait to see where she goes from here. Phylicia Rashad is someone else who gives an inspiring performance. She doesn't have as much to do as the other characters, but when she is on screen, she is a force of nature. It can almost be described as another film Michael B. Jordan starred in, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (sorry for the spoilers), with another powerhouse performer in Angela Bassett (who should have won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress by the way).


The fights are some of the best in the entire Creed series. Michael B. Jordan had said he took inspiration for his fights from the anime series Megalobox, Naruto, Hajime No Ippo, and Dragon Ball Z. As someone who has literally never seen anything from anime ever, I did not catch the anime influences. If you did, please leave a comment because that would help me greatly. But I can analyze the fights from a realistic standpoint, and they are as brutal and as violent as ever. There is blood, so try not to let your little ones see this film. That also ties into the phenomenal cinematography by Kramer Morganthau. There are some shots in this thing that absolutely blew me away, and I am in awe at what they achieved for some of these.


One final thing I want to take note of is the music. Joseph Shirley composed the excellent score, and he is on a roll as of late (also doing the music for the third season of The Mandalorian). He brings his own flavor to the franchise and borrows themes from previous scores in a great way. And there is also a tie-in soundtrack produced by rapper J. Cole and his record studio Dreamville. *I have not gotten a chance to dive into the soundtrack fully, but what I heard in the film was epic at best. Once I get around to listening to all the songs, I will edit this paragraph with my thoughts on it.


To wrap up my thoughts, Creed III is a smart, slick, and well-acted follow up to a beloved series that allows rookie director Michael B. Jordan to flex a muscle we did not know he had. Thank you so much for reading this, and I will see you all for the next post.


*Subject to editing

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