Creed 2

I thought the first Creed movie was pretty good so I've been looking forward to the sequel coming out this month. I'd like to start by saying my hat is off to Sylvester Stalone for slowly phasing out of the staring role and not making it all about him over the last couple of movies in the series. As Rocky's character has aged he has become more wise, likeable, and caring as a supporting character and I've enjoyed seeing him take on that role.

There were so many things I liked about Creed 2. It was a great movie with several complex side stories to keep your attention. Aside from the main character's obvious boxing career, there are the challenges with his mother, wife, young child, and even a rift he went through with Rocky.

Dolph Lundgren was great reprising his role as an older, bitter Ivan Drago who has channeled so much anger into training his son Victor.. Florian Munteamu was a beast of a specimen but only ended up speaking a few sentences during the film. As their story developed I surprisingly found myself empathizing with the villains when I realized that they were also both victims.

This movies features the usual fighting and workout montages you would expect in the Rocky franchise. I appreciated how the boxing choreography was cleaned up and more realistic than some of the earlier Rocky movies. In prior movies the camera angles frequently exposed many fake punches that missed their mark by 6 inches but I didn't notice that in this film. It also added a sense of credibility to see Michael Buffer as the ring announcer, Stitch Duran as the cutman, and HBO boxing analysts.

Aside from the action, this movie is not just a testosterone-fest. There is plenty of drama and several tender and touching moments and I was surprised how emotional I got in some parts. Michael B. Jordan is a great actor and gave a very convincing performance. I give Creed a solid 8.0 stars.