Creed II was able to achieve something that Rocky II was unable to do; parlay all the emotion and success from the first film and create a sequel that surpasses the first.
The next installment of the Rocky franchise is a surreal experience. The emotional linchpin of the film is the father and son story of Ivan and Viktor Drago. The film opens with Drago rising, exiled from Russia to a dilapidated high-rise in Ukraine, and waking his son for training, then walking out onto their cold concrete balcony and looking directly into the camera before the screen breaks to the main title.
This film could not exist without Rocky IV. Rocky IV jumped the shark of the franchise. While it is ridiculously fun, it’s obnoxious with its pop music, training montages, Dolph Lundgren playing a one-dimensional caricature of a caricature, and Rocky ending the cold war, not to mention Paulie’s robot. With Dolph’s return to the Rocky franchise, he is a severely broken man who lost everything. He’s the epitome of stoicism.
It’s amazing to see the Drago legacy on screen thirty-three years later, and their story post Rocky IV is given an ample amount of screen time to develop and triangulate the emotional core of the film – to Rocky’s existing grief, and Adonis Creed grappling with the ghost of his father while starting a new life and family.
Bill Conti’s seminal theme is remixed and used to perfection at a pivotal scene, much like in the first Creed film. Stallone co-writes the screenplay with Juel Taylor and at no fault of the film, it is apparent where Sly’s focus was and Taylor’s focus. The film delivers wonderful callbacks that take the audience by surprise due to the gripping story that unfolds. While Stallone’s direction would have amplified the film to absolute greatness, his soul is woven throughout the film.
His character of Rocky Balboa is one of cinema’s greatest incarnations of hope and the undying heart of an underdog. Michael B. Jordan is wonderful in his second appearance of Adonis Creed. He’s confident and cool as he navigates his personal demons of the shadow of his father, facing the hulking mass of Viktor Drago, and the reality of starting a family.
Jordan’s second entry to his seminal character is on par with Connery’s transition as Bond from Dr. No to From Russia with Love. Tessa Thompson reprises her role of Bianca and is just as wonderful as Jordan. Their chemistry nearly matches that of Stallone and Shire from the original films. There is little left to be said about Stallone. The man has reinvented the wheel of his career four times and remains one of cinema’s most underappreciated auteurs.
With Creed II, Stallone crafts a gripping and dramatic film that at its core is a medley of emotions from characters old and new, dead and living, and gives Dolph Lundgren the performance of his career by elevating Ivan Drago to the same rich and complex status as Rocky and Apollo and Adonis Creed.
Review by Frank Mengarelli
Summary
Creed II does what Rocky II could not, a sequel that is bigger and better than the original.
