Creed is a film that is frustrating in its efforts to be more than it is. This is a great couple of bits that don't add up to a cohesive whole. I'd like to blame most of all the clear attempt to throw everything you know about Rocky into the hands of a different character. So destined for unearned nostalgia is this film that scenes are lifted directly out of the original Rocky with Michael B Jordan feeling like one of those people who reenact crimes years after they've been committed. However, there's an even more gaping flaw in this film---Adonis Johnson is not a very interesting or motivated character. Played by Jordan with a lot of effort but no conviction, he just feels like a character who is dropped into the middle of this world and given the legacy of Apollo Creed to hold onto. I could never tell why he wanted to be the person he's trying to become. The film simply drops us into a world where he quits his cozy bank job to chase his dreams of becoming a fighter. However, why does he want to become a fighter? The film never seems to have a desire to answer that question.
The film follows Adonis as he moves to Philadelphia to follow his father's legacy. There, he meets his father's nemesis-turned-friend Rocky Balboa (Sylvester Stallone) who agrees to train him. However, he must also spend time with new love interest Bianca (Tessa Thompson,) a character that could literally not be more superfluous. Had Coogler and Covington dropped this obligatory plot, the film would have played out exactly as it did. This is less a character and more of an "insert here" plot device. Their relationship is forced and phony without even having the courtesy of adding anything to the script.
The actors try for sure. Jordan gives it his all, even if he's not entirely successful. Meanwhile, Stallone reminds us how great he can be, playing a teddy bear of a man whose rough life inspires him to help Adonis out. Thompson makes an effort with absolutely nothing to do. Phylicia Rashad also has a brief but effective role as Apollo's widow Mary who took Adonis in at an early age. My suggestion for Coogler and Covington would have been to explore the well done relationship between Mary and Adonis better and cut out Adonis and Bianca completely. Try as they may, the actors can't escape the fact that this is an attempt to go "if you loved Rocky, here's Rocky, just with a different title."
The film is well directed by Coogler. There's even a very well shot scene that is just a copy and paste version of the scene with Rocky running down the street in the original. Coogler adds some poetry and meaning to scenes that would have felt completely empty without an up-and-coming director such as him at the helm. Coogler and Jordan worked together on the excellent Fruitvale Station and while this effort is thin soup, especially compared to that film, there is a potential future for that team.
The acting is good for what it is and the direction by Ryan Coogler is well done but the script by Coogler and Aaron Covington let the audience down at every turn. To use the old expression--"There is no there there."
(2 and 1/2 out of 5 Stars, The film is rated PG-13 for violence, language and some sensuality)
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