Creed II: Family, legacy and the ultimate grudge match

There are grudge matches and then there are grudge matches. And movie fans have waited a long time for this one — 35 years to be precise

When Black Panther director Ryan Coogler rebooted the Rocky franchise with Creed three years ago, it was a revelation.

Who knew you could successfully inject fresh blood into a then-39-year-old franchise?

With the return of Sylvester Stallone and a new lead in Michael B. Jordan, it was an impressive movie that both paid homage to Rocky’s legacy and also brought to life a relevant story for a 21st century audience.

It also took in quite a bit of money and earnt a best supporting actor Oscar nomination for Stallone, so a sequel was inevitable.

Coogler didn’t come back to direct Creed II because of scheduling conflicts though he is still a producer. That job falls to Steven Caple Jr., who, like Coogler before him, only had one feature (2016’s The Land) under his belt before stepping into the Creed ring.

Caple doesn’t have the same visual flair or kineticism as Coogler but he has made a decent follow-up, a story focused on family and legacy.

Adonis Creed wants to carry on his father’s legacy (Barry Wetcher/Metro Goldwyn Mayer Pictures/Warner Bros. Pictures via AP)

Cementing that bond to the past is the return of Dolph Lundgren as Ivan Drago, whose character famously killed Adonis Creed’s (Jordan) father Apollo Creed with a blow to the head in Rocky IV.

Ivan Drago has been training his hulking son Viktor (Florian Munteanu) to be a world heavyweight champion, seemingly to exact vengeance vicariously through his progeny.

Ivan has had a hard life since his defeat at Rocky’s hands, cast out by his countrymen, abandoned by his wife Ludmilla (Brigitte Nielsen) and engulfed by resentment. The harsh training regimen he puts Viktor through reflects that coldness.

It’s a stark contrast to now world champion Adonis’s life, which is filled with love and support from Mary Anne (Phylicia Rashad), Rocky (Stallone) and Bianca (Tessa Thompson).

The Dragos are out for blood, literally (Barry Wetcher/Metro Goldwyn Mayer Pictures/Warner Bros. Pictures via AP)

An opportunistic promoter (Russell Hornby) goads Adonis into a boxing match with Viktor, billed as a multigenerational Creed versus Drago sequel to the fight that killed his father 35 years ago.

Adonis feels pressured, by boxing fans clamouring for the match and by himself, to take it on. But Rocky can’t support it, having already had one Creed die in his arms.

There’s even an electrifying, though restrained, confrontation between Rocky and Ivan, in case you missed the history between the two men.

Where Creed was an origin story about the up-and-comer proving himself, Creed II is about what happens once you’ve arrived, and whether you ever stop feeling like a fraud.

But the overall emphasis is on family, and the life and values we inherit from our family.

For Viktor, that’s bitterness and the burden of rejection. For Adonis, it’s the love and warmth that he grew up with, mixed in with the shadow of his father’s greatness, a man he never really met.

For Bianca, it’s also about what you pass on to the next generation — even as her music career has taken off, her hearing loss has progressed.

While Rocky has to acknowledge that being a father figure to Adonis doesn’t absolve him of his relationship with his estranged son.

Tessa Thompson co-wrote the songs she sang in the film (Barry Wetcher/Metro Goldwyn Mayer Pictures/Warner Bros. Pictures via AP)

Creed II does beat you over the head with its sentimentalism — too much text instead of subtext.

But it’s generally effective, if not a touch too cheesy. It’s effective because the first Creed did such a great job at establishing the characters that as soon as you’re plunged back into this world, you immediately care about them.

And that’s helped immensely by strong performances from Jordan, Thompson, Stallone and co. You also have to give massive props to Ludgren who carries off Ivan’s character development and emotional climax with surprising grace.

Never thought of Sylvester Stallone as a hat person, but it totally works. (Barry Wetcher/Metro Goldwyn Mayer Pictures/Warner Bros. Pictures via AP)

Creed II is very conscious of its characters’ pasts and connections, and therefore of its own place in the franchise, as the eighth instalment of a series that’s been running since 1976.

Which means you’re going to get what you expect from a Rocky movie, including training montages full of sweat, grunting and that iconic Rocky theme — and close-ups of bulging muscles.

Creed II is aware that you can never really escape what you came from, always carrying what came before for better or worse. Happily, Creed II is one of the better Rocky instalments, if not the best.

Rating: ★★★½

Creed II is in cinemas from today.

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