by Ed Travis
A completed motion picture is a work that represents thousands and thousands of creative decisions.
It’s remarkable how many of those creative decisions Ryan Coogler and his team got right on Creed.
Easily ranking among the very best entries in the Rocky franchise (now seven films deep and counting), Creed represents all the best aspects of this hallmark series, and suffers from virtually none of the foibles found in several of the previous installments.
In order for a story this exciting to come along in the Rocky saga, incredible choices had to be made. First there’s the pitch, which is a risky one. Sideline Rocky Balboa, in a Rocky movie, in order to let a fresh young fighter take top billing. This very line of thinking has yielded countless bad films, from attempting to force Shia LeBeouf on audiences as a potential replacement for Indiana Jones in Indy 4, to doomed spinoffs like Elektra. The pitfall here being that the central character is what makes those films beloved in the first place. What allows Creed to sidestep these issues and allow Adonis “Hollywood” Johnson (Michael B. Jordan) to become a compelling new lead? Besides the name featured between those parentheses above, which goes a long way on charisma, talent, and a hulking new physique, you also have the buy in of the series’ mastermind himself, Mr. Sylvester Stallone.
Rocky Balboa was a phenomenal series capper for one of the most endearing film series in American history. Balboa’s story has secured American mythology status. Sure, we have our Superman stories, our Batman tales, our Avengers assembling, but I’d argue that Rocky Balboa’s saga is an even greater mythological tale than any of those. A cinematic everyman who became a titan and humbly returned to live amongst mortals once again as time brought him low. With its commentary on aging and the importance of the fire in our bellies ever driving us onwards, Rocky Balboa was a perfect bookend to Rocky. And thanks to Creed, it can always remain that way. Sylvester Stallone could be criticised, sure, for dipping back into this well again. But he could also be lauded for letting a talented young team of African American filmmakers swoop in, place their own stamp on Stallone’s signature character, and then going the distance with their vision, allowing Rocky to inspire a new fighter, and new audiences, with a brave direction for the character and franchise.
Granted, without Rocky stepping into the background, there are no more Rocky movies. Balboa left it all in the ring. But what co-writers Aaron Covington and Ryan Coogler are able to do is craft a remarkably fresh narrative for 2015 which is steeped in heritage and totally invested in by the former lead.
I note above that co-writer/director Coogler is an African-American man. This matters. As Mad Max: Fury Road was made better because it committed to telling a feminist action tale, so Creed is a better film because it is by and about African Americans. This isn’t to say that minorities on screen are inherently more compelling in 2015, although that’s an argument I would be willing to hear out. Rather it is to say that boxing is predominantly African-American today, hip-hop culture has supplanted rock as the music of this generation, and yet it remains truly exceptional to have a black star and a black writer-director get a chance to tell a decidedly mainstream tale such as this one, complete with a new big screen hero in Adonis that will inspire white and black audiences alike. That Creed is made by and starring a mostly black cast, but intended for the widest possible audience, matters. That it is fantastic also helps.
Other great creative decisions made by the Creed team include the incorporation of Philly hip hop in the soundtrack, the casting of Phylicia Rashad as Creed’s mother, the score (Ludwig Göransson mixing modern sounds with those iconic Bill Conti Rocky themes), the single take fight sequence and overall visual dynamism of Maryse Alberti’s cinematography, and crafting a female lead who, while no Adrian, has a compelling story all her own.
But while every movie ever made represents thousands of creative decisions, and while Creed gets them very, very right, decisions only get a film so far. Beyond the decision making there’s still got to be some spark, some magic, the raw talent to take these decisions and make something compelling from them. Creed promised to be the product of a number of thrilling and smart storytelling decisions right from the start. It was always exciting on paper, and Coogler and Co. managed to mix all those elements together and spin them into gold through sheer force of will and a whole lot of talent.
Creed fires on all cylinders. As an action movie it’s thrilling, with rousing fight scenes as involving and hair-raising as any of the best fights from the Rocky franchise. The single take fight scene is just one example of several crowd pleasing bouts, of which the final fight is the most exciting of all. As a drama it mines the lore of Rocky’s extensive mythology and continues to pay homage to Apollo Creed, Adrian, Paulie, and all the familiar Philadelphia settings, and spins something potent and fresh from the history.
All of this crumbles, of course, if the chemistry isn’t there. If Adonis is just a little too cocky, or just a little too eager, if Jordan doesn’t play off of Stallone just right, the movie doesn’t work. Fortunately Jordan brings as much of his A game as Coogler does, and Sly is no slouch himself. Jordan physically transforms into Adonis Creed. He’s a compelling new screen hero because, in spite of the boxing royalty in his veins, he’s come up hard, and established his early fighting cred under his mother’s name, to prove himself on his own. He’s relatable. He’s got that same fire in his belly that Rocky does. And because he’s Apollo Creed’s flesh and blood… he’s immediately family. Perhaps the only legitimate complaint I have with Creed is that Rocky’s only remaining blood family, his son, is explained out of the film in a couple of lines, allowing Adonis to become the surrogate son without much competition from a character who had been prominent in the past couple of films. This is made less of a problem by the fact that Rocky’s son has never been anywhere near as dramatically potent as Adonis is able to become within mere minutes of screen time. Further propelling the on screen chemistry is the romance between Adonis and Bianca (Tessa Thompson), a beautiful musician who captures the audience’s attention as quickly as she does Adonis’.
All the elements that have always made Rocky movies compelling crowd pleasers are present here, but filtered through new blood that had something to prove. Creed is not a mistake. Thousands of good decisions and the talent of Coogler, Jordan, and the rest of their creative team generate one of the most exciting movies of 2015. Creed is a must-see audience experience targeted to appeal to the truly diverse audience out there who are looking for new heroes to root and cheer for. There’s a purity to the joy of a good clean fight, and with Creed we’ve got Rocky Balboa in our corner and a fresh, new, larger than life hero or two to go with distance with.
And I’m Out.
