Creed II

Dir: Steven Caple Jr.

2018

****

Creed was one of my favorite films of 2015. Creed II is not as good and is no masterpiece as a stand alone film but if you love the Rocky films as much as I do then you’ll agree with me that it has to be one of the big feel-good films of 2018. 2015’s Creed was a continuation of the Rocky story, a spin-off if you will, but it was also its own beast. I would argue that Creed II is less of its own story and really a continuation of the Rocky story and rather weirdly, a sequel to Rocky IV more than it is a sequel to Creed. It takes place three years after Creed and we learn that since losing to "Pretty" Ricky Conlan, Adonis Creed has won a string of victories culminating in a victory over Danny "Stuntman" Wheeler (Andre Ward) to win the WBC World Heavyweight Championship. It feels strange to see this at the start of the film but the departure from the usual structure is refreshing. Even though all the publicity for the film had been open that this was a ‘Son of Creed vs. Son of Drago’ story, the first sight of Dolph Lundgren’s Drago sent shivers down my spine and the first time he and Rocky meet is electric. However, I wonder whether they could have added more of a surprise element to the story. Don’t get me wrong – I loved it – but it was very predictable. There is nothing wrong with giving the people what they want, but I do wonder whether they could have come up with another trick. The romantic relationship here isn’t quite the same as Rocky and Adrian and even then, I don’t think I ever truly enjoyed the Adrian parts of the Rocky films. For me Rocky was about Rocky and Micky. The relationship between Ivan Drago and his son Viktor Drago is actually far more interesting than the bond between Creed and Rocky here but it doesn’t feel as if this was the intention. It actually left the ending of the film a little flat and Creed/Michael B. Jordan a little hard done by. Michael B. Jordan is fantastic in the role but he’s still starring in someone else’s film, more so here than in the last film. The scenes where he becomes a father are fairly bad and I started to wish I had the ability to fast-forward in the cinema. The formula is actually very similar to all the other Rocky films but it is handled very differently and spread across various characters. What I really loved was how Viktor Drago, who we thought was just another silent and sinister ‘bad guy’, becomes the focus of most of the film’s genuine emotion. I loved the story of how Dolph Lundgren’s Ivan Drago had since been disgraced in Russia, relocating to Ukraine to raise his son Viktor, whom he also trained to box and build the family name once more. Viktor (Florian Munteanu) begins the film as a monster but is eventually seen as a victim of his father and a generation. It feels like a responsible film somehow, with everyone involved – including Sylvester Stallone – addressing the nonsensical cold-war element of the original films and the notion that winning is everything. It also addresses the ridiculous notion of revenge. While Viktor continues to taunt Adonis publicly in the film, he is constantly pressured by his father to regain their honor. Ivan appears to be enjoying the attentions of the media and various Russian delegates, with which Viktor appears uncomfortable. Then, in what I found to be the film’s big surprise twist, we see them attend a State Dinner, where Viktor and Ivan meet Ludmilla, his mother, and Ivan's ex-wife, for the first time in several years after she abandoned both of them after the loss to Rocky. Brigitte Nielsen reprises her role as a character I would never have thought we would have seen again in a Rocky movie ever again. I would have put more money on Apollo Creed’s robot servant making another appearance over her, especially considering her and Stallone’s brief and infamous marriage. The fact that they seem to have let it go makes the film just that little nicer. In said scene Viktor is immediately enraged at the sight of his mother and chastises Ivan for his interactions with the people who out-casted them. We then see him as a person, rather than a stereotype as we did with Lundgren in 1985. The rematch in Moscow is considerably more balanced as a more controlled and focused Adonis exchanges equal blows with Viktor. Since Viktor is accustomed to winning all of his fights by knockout, his fights have never lasted beyond the fourth round, something that Adonis uses to his advantage as he endures Viktor's punishment deeper into the match, even after his ribs break again. In the tenth round after being knocked down again, Adonis unleashes a furious rage, managing to land sequence after sequence of effective blows, knocking Viktor down twice. Ludmilla, who had been sitting ringside with some of Viktor's supporters, departs when the tide of the fight shifts in Adonis' favor, knocking Viktor off-balance emotionally. Ivan notes this as well, coming to terms with Viktor's earlier statements on the fair-weathered nature of the same supporters who had run Ivan out of Russia. With Viktor cornered and receiving multiple strikes without defending himself, but unwilling to go down, Ivan throws in the towel, conceding the fight to Adonis to ensure his son isn’t seriously injured or killed. Though Viktor is ashamed, Ivan assures Viktor it is okay that he lost, and embraces him. It is the first Rocky film where a match ends due to someone throwing in the towel. It goes against everything we’ve learned from the Rocky films but it feels 100% right. As Creed celebrates his win in the ring, Rocky recuses himself from joining them, telling Creed that it is “his time”, as he takes a seat and watches them from outside the ring. It is fair to say this is his last Rocky film and the timing feels right. It is the first film in the Rocky series where there were no significant personal losses to Rocky since Rocky II. In Rocky III he losses Mickey, in Rocky IV he losses Apollo, in Rocky V he losses his fortune, in Rocky Balboa he losses Adrian and in Creed we see him recovering after loosing Paulie. After Rovcky Balboa in 2006 and before Creed in 2015, Stallone lost his son in real life. Milo Ventimiglia returned after playing Rocky’s son (first played in Rocky V by Stallone’s real son) in 2006 in a way to let Stallone heal. It all feels like a proper ending, or at least a new beginning for Rocky and now maybe Creed can himself flourish just that little bit more. That said, I’d love him to fight Clubber Lang’s son in the next film as I want to see Mr T again. Formulaic as ever but still warm and nostalgic in a series you just can’t beat.