it took a millennial to make a truly “new” rocky film. coogler may be of the same generation, but the cinematic sensibilities of Creed I are very classic. this film really breaks the mold, and i loved it!! the anime style fights were incredible, very fresh and original. the main training montage juxtaposing protagonist and antagonist was very well done, and also felt new. i also really loved the antagonist’s dirty fighting style: it felt high stakes, it felt real, and again, not something we’ve seen in a rocky movie.
johnathan majors was incredible, he absolutely sold it and is the star of the show here. very cool guy. i like how the creed franchise mirrors the rocky franchise: in rocky 3 we get Mr. T playing a ferocious maverick. the bad thing about that movie is that he has no character whatsoever…but i also really loved that movie, because he felt like a very convincing threat. the same is true of this film. majors plays it very unpredictable, very threateningly kooky.
tessa thompson’s character was underdone. i wish they had gotten a bit deeper into the crisis of masculine repression that is a big plot point in the film: there’s a lot to explore there. one thing i really appreciate about stallone is his capacity to dredge emotional expression out of traditional masculine archetypes. it’s a big theme in his oeuvre; the theme is present here, but needed a stronger script.