![]() |
Sylvester Stallone and Michael B Jordan take to the ring once more in Rocky IV/Creed remake Creed II |
Director: Steven Caple Jr
Cast: Michael B Jordan (Adonis Creed), Sylvester Stallone
(Rocky Balboa), Tessa Thompson (Bianca Taylor), Dolph Lundgren (Ivan Drago),
Florian Munteanu (Viktor Drago), Phylicia Rashad (Mary Anne Creed), Andre Ward
(Danny “Stuntman” Wheeler), Wood Harris (Tony “Little Duke” Evers), Brigitte
Nielsen (Ludmila Drago), Milo Ventimiglia (Robert Balboa), Russell Hornsby
(Buddy Marcelle)
After eight films, in a franchise that has been running for
over 40 years, you have to ask if there are any original stories left to tell
in the Rocky universe. The answer?
Yes there probably are. Does this film tell one? Well no not really, even if
there are moments where you feel it wants to. Instead it basically gives us the
formula we expected going into it.
Adonis Creed (Michael B Jordan) is finally heavyweight
champion of the world – but why is he so glum? Maybe because he still can’t
seem to shake off the shadow of his deceased father Apollo Creed. So he finds
it hard to resist when Ivan Drago (Dolph Lundgren), the man who killed Apollo,
emerges from disgrace in the Ukraine (I’m not sure the makers of this film
realise that the Ukraine is different country to Russia). Drago brings with him
his super-fighter son Viktor (Florian Munteanu, virtually mute for the whole
film) who challenges Adonis to a title fight. Rocky (Sylvester Stallone)
doesn’t approve and wants nothing to do with it. Adonis’ pregnant wife Bianca
(Tessa Thompson) isn’t sure it’s a good idea. But Adonis gives it a go – and is
left hospitalised after a mauling, though Viktor is disqualified in the fight
on a technicality. Adonis has to rebuild his confidence from nothing, lay to
rest his daddy issues and, of course, take on Viktor in a rematch – stop me if
you have heard any of this before.
Because you almost certainly have. This is a film that
repackages themes from Creed, the
basic plot structure of Rocky IV ,and
mixes in elements from several other films to come up with a sort of
Frankenstein’s monster that feels familiar rather than fresh. Practically every
beat can be predicted in advance, and there are no surprises or challenges to
your expectations. Essentially everything plays out so closely to what you
might expect, and is so clearly signposted in the film, that it’s almost
impossible to spoil.
Which is a shame as there is a better, more intelligent film
in here which is thrashing around trying to get out. There was a film to be
made here about the shadows fathers cast over us. After all, Adonis and Viktor
are basically fighting the battles of their fathers and adopted fathers rather
than their own. For Adonis in particular, his struggles to live in the shadow
of his father is hammered home with decreasing subtly as the film goes on.
Director Steven Caple Jnr was clearly so pleased with his framing of a shot
where Adonis trains while a window with a picture of his father towers above
him that he repeated it several times in the film. It’s as far as the film goes
to questioning the wisdom of these people being weighed down by legacies.
Because this is a film that is trying to have its cake and
eat it. All of the characters close to Adonis oppose his first fight with Viktor
– Rocky even tells him it’s not his fight – but come the second fight all these
characters are cheering him on in the rematch. It seems the only way to escape
your father’s shadow… is to climb deeper under it. (Interesting note: all
references to Creed being the son of a girlfriend of Creed’s rather than with
his wife are deleted in the film, which feels odd.)
You know what would have been interesting? Perhaps Adonis
thinking he doesn’t need to win the fight to match his father’s achievements.
Or perhaps Adonis deciding that fighting alone proved his point, and he didn’t
need to match Rocky’s success in Rocky
IV. Or deciding that he didn’t need
to rise to the bait. Instead the film shows him pushing against his father’s
legacy – and finally doubling down on it in order to create his own legacy.
Thinking about it doesn’t make a load of sense.
It would also have been nice if the intervening years had
changed Ivan Drago in some way – but he’s established very early on as a
villain, and that’s it. Of course this is partly due to Lundgren’s limitations
as an actor – wisely it’s nearly half an hour before Ivan speaks, and he does
only one scene in English – but it would have been nice if Drago perhaps
expressed some regret to suggest he has changed in some way since 1986. Viktor
has an equally unclear trajectory – Ivan’s determination to reclaim glory via
his son seems to be leading towards some bust up between them, but it never
does (is it just me or does Viktor seem like he almost hates his domineering
father?). The film tries to pay this off with a moment of familial affection
between the two but it comes from nowhere and seems unclear.
So the story is predictable. So predictable by the way, that
the film seriously sags in the middle as we wait (with no tension) for Adonis
to decide he will get into the ring again and fight Viktor. It also has a
slightly manipulative relationship between Bianca and Adonis (Tessa Thompson is
wasted again in a bit of a nothing role – and her musician character is saddled
with some of the worst music you’ll ever hear). But it’s still a well made film.
The fight scenes in the ring are of course excellent as always. The main actors
are all good – Jordan is very convincing and Stallone continues to get a load
of pathos from the ageing Rocky.
But it’s just a little bit dull and familiar. There is too
much of the same old same old here. Where are the new ideas? Even all these
father themes were explored to a conclusion in Creed – why retread it all again? What does this do that is new and
different – nothing really. It’s another chapter in their lives. But nothing
else. And with the birth of Adonis’ daughter we’ve got to get ready for a whole
new series of films in 30 years, as Amora Creed takes on Clubber Lang’s grandson’s
nephew in Kid Creed. Or something
like that.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: only a member of this blog may post a comment.