Creed III

Creed III

After dominating the boxing world, Adonis Creed has been thriving in both his career and family life. When a childhood friend and former boxing prodigy, Damien Anderson, resurfaces after serving a long sentence in prison, he is eager to prove that he deserves his shot in the ring. The face-off between former friends is more than just a fight. To settle the score, Adonis must put his future on the line to battle Damien - a fighter who has nothing to lose.

  • Released: 2022-11-23
  • Runtime: 116 minutes
  • Genre: Action, Drama
  • Stars: Michael B. Jordan, Tessa Thompson, Phylicia Rashād, Jonathan Majors, Jacob 'Stitch' Duran, Thaddeus J. Mixson, Tony Bellew, Selenis Leyva, Spence Moore II, Michelle Davidson, Eric Daniel Stumpp, Sherri Belinda Quinones, Candice Tracy Ross, Florian Munteanu, Leah Haile, Julia Llamas, James Sanders III, Teófimo López, Stephen A. Smith
  • Director: Michael B. Jordan
 Comments
  • DanLawson146 - 8 June 2024
    Jordan shouldn't have directed this
    POSITIVES:

    1) The performances are great. Each of the returning cast members fit like a glove into their characters by this point, whilst the bulldozing newcomer Majors really steals every scene he's in by being incredibly intimidating and unnerving. It was also nice to see cameos from previous opponents in the series, as it made it feel like this universe has a real heavyweight division of multiple top fighters all having their own careers and crossing paths at different times 2) I thought the film really sold me on the emotional side of the story. I completely bought into the conflict between Adonis and Dame, as well as caring about Adonis' family life and wanting things to go well for them 3) I thought the film dealt with diversity and inclusion very well. Most films try and hit you over the head with this kind of thing, to the point that it becomes annoying. However, I thought the way this film handled it, especially when it came to Adonis' deaf daughter and the frequent use of sign language, was really well done 4) I was surprised by the fact that I actually didn't feel like Rocky was a notable absence in the film. Obviously it would've been nice to see him, but I actually think by barely mentioning him at all and having Adonis retired for most of the film, it allowed Rocky's omission to feel natural and not play on my mind at all

    NEGATIVES:

    1) The pacing is shocking, with some plot threads taking far too long, like everything revolving around the Mexican boxer, whilst others, like the mother's death and the whole final act, are sped through far too quickly. Adonis literally doesn't mention his mother a single time in the film after her death? The build up to the final fight is literally just a training montage - no tense exchanges at a press conference, no grieving for the mother, no emotional resolution between Adonis and Bianca, just straight into the fight like it's nothing 2) The editing was horrific. The cutting from one scene to the next was so jarring at times. I'm not sure if there was an original longer cut that was supposed to connect certain scenes a bit better, but honestly there were so many moments where scenes seemed to end really abruptly and then the next scene would randomly be in a completely different location and time 3) The final fight felt like a real anticlimax. I felt like it took far too long to get to it, especially since we all knew it was coming due to the trailers and the nature of these types of films. Then, when we finally got there, the fight choreography was quite poor for me, there wasn't anywhere near the same level of drama and suspense as the previous final fights in the series, and the decision to have the sequence where the crowd go away and it almost seems to be taking place in a dream was a really badly executed idea I thought 4) As the title of this review suggests, as well as my previous negatives, I simply don't think Jordan was up to the job of directing this film. I think it's obvious that being the lead actor and the director was too much. His performance is very good, but he should leave the director's chair behind for the foreseeable future. Even if we forget about all my previous negatives, there just was nothing special from a directing point of view at all. It was very safe and lacklustre, whereas the two previous directors in the Creed franchise both felt so much more competent and able to show some flair.
  • gianmarcoronconi - 22 March 2024
    Wonderfull
    This is not a real review, it should be understood more as a collection of impressions on the film.

    Third chapter of the spiritual sequel saga of Rocky, I start by saying that even if it may seem strange even if this is the third chapter and in any case the first film I have seen of this trilogy and I must say that everything is understandable very well even without having seen any of the predecessors and as a story itself it is very beautiful, compelling and full of twists. I must therefore say that the film surprised me in a positive way and above all it really entertained me completely without ever disappointing me from start to finish. So as a final comment I say that now I will watch all the other films too.