Share the post "Movie Review – Creed (2016)"
Creed (2015)
Directed by Ryan Coogler.
Starring Michael B. Jordan, Sylvester Stallone and Tessa Thompson.
SYNOPSIS:
Legendary boxer Rocky Balboa trains the son of his former rival and late friend Apollo Creed.
You won't talk about the direction after seeing Creed. Story, sure. Actors, definitely. But not director.
Some directors make their movies three hours long, with an intermission in the middle, an overture at the beginning and only projected properly in the Leicester Square Odeon. Those directors take equal billing alongside the actors. They're stars. They're draws.
Others hold back and let the characters fill the frame. Ryan Coogler is this kind of director.
He might as well be shooting a documentary. The camera ducks and weaves to action like Adonis Johnson (Michael B. Jordan) – the illegitimate son of late boxer Apollo Creed that Rocky Balboa (Sylvester Stallone) agrees to train – sparring with his reflection. The lens is shadow boxing.
Those two words hold the key to Creed. The film is more stuffed with more subtext than a Philly cheesesteak is with both cheese and steak. Absent fathers, doomed destinies and passed loves – each character has a singular, driving shadow from which they're trying to escape. Thing is, that's the problem with shadows. They're awfully hard to outrun.
Instead, neuroses are settled through boxing matches. In that way, Creed is a macho movie in the most gloriously unapologetic manner possible. Blood, sweat, muscles. It's heard about the Bechdel test, but hasn't got time to stop by the clinic. It's too busy punching people that symbolise absent father figures.
But the best part? The central acting trio. Stallone, Jordan and Tessa Thompson (who plays Johnson's love interest Bianca) are sublime. Bianca's arc (a musician slowly losing her hearing) mirrors a boxer's own destructive passion. Thompson plays it note perfect. Johnson strives for paternal acceptance from a father dead long ago. Jordan lands every emotional punch. He's so good, he'll have people asking, "flame what?"
The gem, however, is The Weathered One. He's mumbling, he's broken-down, he's glorious. Sylvester Stallone.
I sad-cried three times during Creed, all at Sly's performance. I don't sad-cry at movies. I happy-cry all the time, but never when things get depressing. The most snotty was when Rocky vomits after training too hard with Adonis. "I'm sorry," he apologises. It's Balboa all over. Even with his legacy and boxing prowess, Rocky remains humble and honest in those darkest moments.
In an odd way, Rocky the Character has become material; almost more real than Stallone himself. Around since 1977, appearing in seven movies from then to now, we've watched the underdog grow like few others in fiction. And nobody understands him better than Sly. Which is why when Stallone thanked Rocky for being his best imaginary friend in his acceptance speech at the Golden Globes, most shared the sentiment.
There is neither a wasted scene or character arc in this movie. In those terms, it's a perfect film. When the credits roll, the urge to run up steps will overtake you. You'll wake up the following day at 5.45am and eat raw eggs. You'll want to run headfirst into that thing you love with newfound passion and vigour.
Hyperbole, hyper-schmerbole – Creed is something special. And it'll be Flickering Myth Top 10 by the year's end for sure.
Flickering Myth Rating[1] – Film: ★ ★ ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★
Oli Davis is Co-Editor of Flickering Myth, curator of its Super Newsletter[2] and Lead Producer of Flickering Myth TV[3]. You can follow him on Twitter @OliDavis[4].
Share the post "Movie Review – Creed (2016)"
References
- ^ Flickering Myth Rating (flickeringmyth.blogspot.com)
- ^ Super Newsletter (eepurl.com)
- ^ Flickering Myth TV (www.youtube.com)
- ^ @OliDavis (twitter.com)
