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Plot Summary: Adonis has been thriving in both his career and family life, but when a childhood friend and former boxing prodigy resurfaces, the face-off is more than just a fight.

Director: Michael B. Jordan

Writer: Keenan Coogler, Zach Baylin

Runtime: 1 hour 56 mins

Main Cast:

• Michael B. Jordan as Adonis Creed
• Tessa Thompson as Bianca Creed
• Jonathan Majors as Damian Anderson
• Wood Harris as Tony 'Little Duke' Burton
• Phylicia Rashad as Mary-Anne Creed

Review by: Mia R.

Creed III Review: “You can’t run from your past.”

Creed and Creed II received raving reviews from writers at The Grand Shuckett as well as high ratings on other sites such as Rotten Tomatoes and IMDb. You can watch the third installation without knowing much about its predecessors, but the experience is much better when you embrace Creed III as the third installation in Ryan Coogler’s spearheading of the Rocky universe. Coogler’s writing up until now has juggled wrapping up the story of Rocky Balboa while maturing the legacy of Apollo Creed. By the time we join Adonis Creed in this movie, he has experienced a fully successful boxing career, explored his grief and anger over the fate of his birth parents, and embraced a romance with his sultry yet vulnerable musician other half.

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I walked into the theater having high expectations for Michael B. Jordan’s continued portrayal of Adonis Creed alongside this new challenger Damian Anderson (played by Jonathan Majors). This film should ideally round off the trilogy, maintaining the torch passed from Rocky Balboa and Apollo Creed to Adonis Creed. We have a full picture of Rocky’s life, so let’s move on to further mature Adonis’ legacy as the next generation of boxing. To me, that meant this movie had to accomplish a few storytelling goals. First: less romantic relationship instability. We all love a good love story, but this universe is about boxers, not romance—Fighters not lovers. That doesn’t mean I don’t want to see his full life, but continuing any distracting relationship instability could easily distract from an impactful plot. Second, I want a wider view of the boxing world and industry that gave us the champions we know and love. The world building in Rocky and Creed films focuses largely on the internal turmoil of the fighters, but this many movies in, we should be receiving a clearer picture of the world that allows them to be the champions that they are. On the same note, the underdog vs champion theme that defines this film franchise needs to not only play into the world building, but also give us refreshing tension after the many times we have seen these characters enter the ring.

I am confident I can expect these things from Ryan Coogler. As a writer, his portfolio proves he knows how to engage the audience, flesh out his characters, and provide us with a plot that we can be fully invested in. Michael B. Jordan steps in to direct this third installation, his directorial debut. I found myself highly anticipating this anime-inspired direction from Jordan, eager for American television to take inspiration from entertainment overseas that often out performs our own content at being visually and emotionally innovative. In Jordan’s words, “there’s an inherent spirit to them in how they fight,” which is exactly what I want to see evolve in boxing films that are following up an eight-movie franchise. So, going into the theater, I was eager to see how Coogler’s writing merged with the new Director’s vision.

As I mentioned before, Creed III begins by showcasing the success of Adonis Creed’s career. He is retiring as undisputed champion, ready to turn his success into an influence that allows him to push other boxers to the top alongside him. Fate drops just such an underdog in his lap, his childhood friend Damian Anderson, a boxing prodigy whose potential was cut short by 18 years in prison. Damian and Adonis grew up together in the group home before he was adopted by the woman who loved his father and raises him, and continued their friendship until the time Damian is put away. Damian returns, bringing buried memories and unresolved emotions to Adonis, specifically frustration and guilt. Adonis has secrets tied to his last time seeing Damian that add tension to his work and family life, and eventually begin to affect the careers of the boxers around him. He is committed to giving Damian his chance at success, and Damian has his own agenda as he accepts the support from his childhood friend Adonis. Eventually, the tension and unresolved guilt from both men drives them into the ring together to face off against not only their resentment towards one another, but their inner resentment towards themselves. Both men must get it all out in a champ vs champ all-out battle that will decide who truly deserves the success that was stolen from Damian at a young age, and hard-earned by Adonis through his connections and determination to never go down in the ring.

The most memorable things about the film are the emotional tension between the two men and the way that this emotion appears and is directed in the ring each time we witness one or both men fight. You can sense just how much these boys loved each other growing up and how their betrayal and loyalty that convolutes their current relationship leaves them with only one way to resolve things. Damian is a menace in the ring, breaking rules, breaking fighters, and unapologetic as he challenges Adonis Creed to do something about it. It is clear that Adonis Creed only wants absolution, but he has to face off against the one other person in his life who is just as eager to speak with his fists rather than words. His family and career are at stake, the boxing world and the sports industry have all eyes on this building tension, and Creed is forced out of retirement to face his greatest turmoil.

The story of Creed III is certainly one of sibling rivalry, despite the two men not being blood brothers. The sibling rivalry, the family ties, and the unbreakable bonds between the men raise the stakes in and out of the ring while allowing the audience—and maybe Adonis Creed—to forgive and forget a lot of developments that would be much harder to stomach if this wasn’t a family squabble. The story steps completely away from Creed’s time with Rocky and focuses entirely on the life he has built with his wife, daughter, and ailing mother. This sets the tone for another fighter who helped to define who he was in and out of the ring to step up and shake things up. Damian Anderson is an intimidating figure throughout the film. You sympathize with his story, see his inner vulnerability even in his worst moments, and find yourself pulled along by his hunger for greatness in a textbook underdog theme. Then, the movie spins this feeling and drops you back into Creed’s underdog experience, where he must wonder if he can beat one of the greatest fighters that he has ever met, knowing that he will play the dirtiest a fighter has ever been able to get away with in his career. It becomes hard to decide who you think should win, but of course, the name of the movie isn’t Anderson III.

Creed must face his past and face himself in the ring just as much as Dame, successfully refreshing the underdog themes of the franchise by evolving it into a fighter vs fighter dynamic where both can be considered underdogs by the real world and the fighting world. The high stakes are both internal and familial. In the end, this fight will allow both men to regain respect not only for each other, but themselves, if they can let it all out in the ring and leave nothing behind, which they most certainly do in a way that powerfully references anime tropes and techniques for high stakes fighting.

There are cinematic choices in the ring that really solidify Jordan’s skill as a director. Combat fighting can be sketchy when you aren’t dealing with seasoned fighters and stunt doubles, but the camera and editing choices are not only high in quality, but strategic in execution. Rather than cutting away from high intensity fighting because the combat could look questionable, the camera will pan around the body of a fighter, keeping the audience in the ring and the energy in the fight. Jordan understands fully how to “show, don’t tell,” giving intense moments with anime-style imagery, communicating fighters feeling caged into the ring or getting lost in their memories, guilt, or pain. It is truly a great start for Jordan as a director that leaves you wanting to see more of what he can do. He had a great story from the Coogler brothers to work on, which explores the emotional vulnerability and trauma that Black men experience as victims of the system who—even when they do overcome—must then overcome the survivor’s guilt that sticks to your spirit after you have escaped poverty and systemic abuse.