‘Creed 3’ packs a punch but is rock solid in execution

The beloved ‘Rocky’ franchise continues with what is to come “Creed III”, which is not only pits Michael B. Jordanreturns as Adonis “Creed” Johnson, son of Apollo Creed (Carl Weathers).

But after two very strong and engaging ‘Creed’ films that delivered extraordinary performances, does this third film complete an epic trilogy, or does it feel like it’s knocking it all out?

Michael B. Jordan makes his directorial debut with Creed III

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Before we get into the spoiler-free review of the film, one of the big moments of the latest film is that it introduced the world to Michael B. Jordan made his directorial debut, who apparently also appears in the film. In a statement at the time of the announcement a few years ago, he mentioned how important it was to take on such a task, saying: “Directing has always been an aspiration, but the timing had to be right. “Creed III” is that moment – a time in my life where I grew more confident in who I was, held power over my own story, personal maturity, professional development, and learning from the greats like Ryan Cooglermost recently Denzel Washingtonand other top-level directors I respect.”

There, he continued, “That all sets the table for this moment. It’s the themes of the franchise and “Creed III” in particular deeply personal to me. I look forward to sharing the next chapter of Adonis Creed’s story with the awesome responsibility of serving as director and namesake.”

And impressive for a directorial debut, but I’d like to see Jordan take his talents to the director’s chair. completely original story and away from “Creed”. I think it would really see and show his artistic brilliance in the levels he designed. To really see honestly if your skills in front of the camera can surpass your work behind the camera.

Only time will tell, or at least for the hard-working Jordan, it seems likely that he is the man who can actually do it. amazing actor that is no doubt and as he continues to control, it will be interesting to see where the road takes you. Because this is not an easy job in any sense and there is always room for improvement. Once you start working on more projects, it will be amazing to see the progress because even then Sylvester Stallone he directed and wrote it himself, it got significantly better as time went on. The sky’s the limit. It was a good first try for Jordan in the director’s chair. More on that later. But speaking of Stallone…

Sylvester Stallone is not in Creed III

Not much of a spoiler, but the man who created the “Rocky” franchise, Sylvester Stallone does not appear in Creed III at all. It’s not even really referenced or referred to throughout the film. Of course, the movie wants to move away from the shadow that the character and the movies that Rocky may have cast, but in this case, he’s such an important character to the movies as a whole and to the Adonis Creed character that you’d think. it would be some kind of reference. Of course there was most recent relegation With Stallone and another “Rocky” producer Irwin Winkler, where he called out Winkler and his family over the rights to the “Rocky” franchise in since-deleted Instagram posts. And how you feel you deserve access to them.

It’s likely that he ripped into Winkler the way he did may be the biggest reason that Stallone will not appear in the third Creed film. And it looks like we’ve seen the last of Rocky, but have we seen the last of Creed?

Creed III seems to hold its own amid its storied past

Now for the movie. After “Creed II” in 2008, I would have thought and believed that the audience would get all the answers they could. For me, the story of Adonis “Creed” Johnson is over, in all good ways. The movie buttoned up all professional and life goals for all the characters to ride off into the sunset and live happily ever after. But some may have said that about some of the original “Rocky” movies.

As we know, there always seems to be another round in Hollywood. And that’s the case with the new story being offered for “Creed III.” It starts where we think it should: Creed has had a very successful post-fight career as a promoter and is living the life he made himself out to be.

It’s all fine and dandy until an old friend of Creed’s comes back from a long stint in prison, played very well Jonathan Chambers who plays Damian “Dame” Anderson, who was once a boxing prodigy who chose a path in life where he got lucky. Anderson seems like a real guy who got in the wrong crowd. But now out of prison, he feels entitled to the life he feels was stolen from him, the life of Adonis Creed.

And very quickly you not only get an almost instant address, but he gets his old friend from retirement to a big championship fight. I understand now. It’s a movie. But this rags-to-riches story seems to be all a a bit on the express train as even this story is highly unlikely to happen in real life. It could have been dragged on a little longer. But if they wanted to speed it up, one simple thing that could have been added would be this Sylvester Stallone to be in the film to promote the fight or to be an ambassador for the cause of the fight. I would have thought a little more about all his speed if Rocky’s influence came into play. Now this doesn’t ruin the film on these minor decisions, it just could have been streamlined a bit more to get it to the same place and make for a more complete film.

The fight scenes are great and make for a fun movie worth watching, but since most of the story feels rushed, it derails it a bit because it adds a lot of filler that shouldn’t be there. There will probably be more Creed movies in the future depending on how things go at the box office, but does it have to be this way? Although these movies do took on a more serious mood, future films leaning towards nostalgia and the occasional cheese factor could do wonders for the overall show as it continues. Because no matter how much you want to get away from Rocky, he’s always going to be there, and he’s always going to be there.

There will be a future for Creed, but I have to ask, what else does he have to prove? Nothing. And that’s not a bad thing, it’s just the truth. The Creed character is great and I enjoyed it overall. In the previous two films, there was more connection, emotion and urgency. Creed III gives you a lot of power, but to keep going you have to reinvent yourself or give Creed more difficulty because it never feels like you’re out of it. That was the magic of the Rocky movies, Rocky could have been lost but you really fell in love with his journey. It just looks like Creed will launch and we won’t have to worry about attendance. Maybe you think otherwise?

Decide for yourself when “Creed III” hits theaters on March 3, 2023!