CREED: The Bod Couple

Director: Ryan Coogler
Writers: Ryan Coogler, Aaron Covington
Cast: Michael B. Jordan, Sylvester Stallone, Tessa Thompson, Phylicia Rashad, Tony Bellew
Runtime: 133 mins.
2015

As the Hunger Games saga goes out with a whimper, franchise filmmaking is feeling as tired as ever. We have godawful projects like a Die Hard prequel and a Memento remake to look forward to. We've gotten to the point where Marvel isn't the only intellectual property with a shared cinematic universe; on the horizon are the DC Universe, the Ghostbustersverse, the Universal Monsterverse, the Transformerverse, and the Fast and Furiverse. Even Pixar is hitting us with Finding Dory, Cars 3, Toy Story 4, and The Incredibles 2. We've apparently decided that we cannot let go of our favorite characters from yesteryear. We cling to them, drag them kicking and screaming into contemporaneity, and then either forgive them of their mediocrity because they are familiar, or decry their originality because they are not familiar enough.

Fortunately, as is the case with every regrettable cinematic trend, there are exceptions to the rule. There will always be good filmmakers, after all. We've already seen one long dead franchise revived to stupendous effect this year in Mad Max: Fury Road, and we're hoping for another such rousing success from the impending Star Wars VII. To do that, lightning will have to strike thrice, because Ryan Coogler has already made the second breakout franchise revival of the year: Creed.

A great deal of that has to do with Creed's lack of pandering. Everyone's favorite boxer is back, sure, but not with a wink and a nod. Rocky has no badass moments, and at no point does he even remotely attempt to punch anybody. His heroic journey is quiet, understated, emotional, and personal. Perhaps most importantly, this is not yet another "passing the torch" sequel in which the aging hero takes center stage while beneficently priming the young upstart for his own entry in the future. One of the most crucial story choices Coogler made with Creed was to give Adonis complete agency in his own story. He never denies the call, and he is never propped up by the generosity of others. He seeks Rocky out deliberately, in part because of the old champ's connection with his late great father Apollo--but Rocky doesn't agree easily. He needs to be talked into it, just as Ryan Coogler had to coerce Stallone into coming back for a seventh entry that he originally wanted no part of.

So once again, this is not another stab at diversity that sees the new blood taking a backseat to the old familiar white guy. Both Coogler and Adonis are young, black, immensely talented, and succeeding against all odds. For Adonis, his success is surprising because of his lack of formal training. For Coogler, his success is surprising because frankly, any young person of color's success as a director in the Hollywood system is still astonishing at this point. That's part of what makes Coogler one of the most exciting new voices in film, period.


He certainly made all the right moves here storywise. The script is very good, though not quite excellent. Sometimes the dialogue runs the risk of being a little too on the nose. It never reaches that point, though, thanks to Coogler's incredible direction and a triad of incredible performances. Of course, if a filmmaker knows they will be able to pull a screenplay off without a hitch, maybe any perceived flaws on the page aren't actually flaws after all.

I've gone this far without talking about Michael B. Jordan, and I can go no further. I was first introduced to him in Chronicle, and then as one of the few bright spots in Josh Trank's Fantastic Four. Just as Coogler is a rising star behind the camera, Michael B. Jordan is all set to have a tremendous career in front of it. Luckily Creed guarantees he won't be brought down by his bomb of a superhero movie.

His performance as Adonis is too understated to win an Oscar, and that is one of the highest compliments I can give. He crafts a fully formed and immediately compelling human being with a surplus of charisma that gets hidden away behind layers of insecurities and complexes. Adonis has had a crap life; he has never escaped the feeling that he needs to fight to survive. Jordan's performance accomplishes an all too rare feat: Adonis makes some awful, ugly choices, but no matter what he does we never stop liking him. Jordan keeps us with Adonis every step of the way, and even his flaws strike us as genuine and human rather than annoying. We understand where they come from.

Same goes for his girlfriend Bianca (Tessa Thompson). Her arc provides a satisfying complement to Apollo's in that she's a musician who suffers from a progressive degenerative hearing condition. She's simply doing what she loves until she can't do it anymore. She ultimately ends up being the-girlfriend-outside-the-ring, but he supports her in the same way, and their relationship feels more real and mature than it easily could have in another movie.

Then, of course, there's Stallone. For a guy who's spent most of his career as a parody of himself, goddamn does he still have a lot of gas in the tank. His Rocky here is melancholy, but not a sadsack. He's weak, but not pathetic. He's bullheaded, but not stupid. He's old, but not done. Every interaction between him and Adonis crackles on the screen, and not in a distracting way. Everything is played in such an understated way that you feel like you're just watching a couple of real people train together. Coogler teases a magnificently human performance out of Stallone. Some of these lines could be honkers if delivered by different actors under different direction, but Stallone makes every line land with maximum impact. It's hard not to be moved by this film. Both Rocky and Adonis are genuinely inspirational characters, and I can so rarely say that as a relatively cynical moviewatcher.

I read this tweet online:

"You cried, I cried too. There's nothing to be ashamed about emotions." - seriously some dad to his son outside of this showing of CREED.

That's the power of Creed, but the movie doesn't just work on an emotional level. It also has some of the most impactful fight choreography I've ever seen.

Coogler directs the hell out of every boxing sequence. The camera gets down and dirty with the fighters; it bobs and weaves through the action as if it is a third participant. The camera gets knocked around with the boxers. When punches land they land hard. So often during this movie I found myself wondering how in the hell they filmed these fights, because they all look so real. It's not even done with clever editing; one fight toward the middle of the film is shot in one glorious continuous take. Not even the flashy pay-attention-to-me kind of continuous take you would see in something like Birdman. This shot was designed to pull you right into the action, so that you could be forgiven for not even noticing the lack of cuts.

Adding to the illusion that there are some real deal brawls happening on camera is Michael B. Jordan's impressive physicality. He brings such intensity to every movement. Some of the most memorable images in this film are him face to face with Rocky. These two greats standing on equal ground is instantly iconic. The old and the young. The white and the black. The has-been and the will-be. None of these barriers are insurmountable to two people who are fighting together for a common goal. Creed is, at its heart, a wildly successful monument to the human spirit. For that reason, despite never having seen a Rocky movie in my life, I have retroactively fallen in love with the franchise.

The other day I told a friend that I don't much care what a movie's about when I'm deciding whether I want to see it. I used to, but I've found that far more important are the people making the movie, and how they tell the story. Creed confirms this perspective for me. I couldn't care less about boxing, or movies about boxing. Conceptually, that doesn't interest me at all. Yet Creed was an electrifying experience. The best movies transcend the materials of their plot to leave a timeless ephemeral residue on your psyche. I might not care about boxing, but now I sure do care about these men who do.

4 / 5  BLOBS