Adonis Johnson (Michael B. Jordon) is the illegitimate son of famous boxer Apollo Creed (who died fighting in ROCKY IV before Adonis was born).   He is taken by Creed’s widow and raised as her son.  He goes to college and builds a career while doing barroom boxing matches in Tijuana, Mexico.  He gives up his job to train and become a fulltime boxer.  He tracks down Rocky Balboa (Sylvester Stallone) who is at first reluctant to train Adonis, but Rocky decides to help give Adonis a fighting chance as a boxer.  Meanwhile, Adonis falls for signer Bianca (Tessa Thompson) who will eventually lose all of her hearing.  CREED is the voyage of discovery for Adonis as he works to embrace the legacy of his father while forging his own path as a boxer.

 

CREED is a spin-off from the ROCKY film series which is a continuation and homage to the ROCKY film series.  It is also a passing of the torch to expose a new generation to Rocky and hopefully they will go watch the original ROCKY movies after watching CREED (but ROCKY V can be skipped).  Michael B. Jordon and Sylvester Stallone work together like a great duo while Stallone gives one last thing to express as Rocky.

 

SPECIAL FEATURES:

KNOW THE PAST, OWN THE FUTURE- cast and crew (along with pro fighters) discuss the impact and legacy of the ROCKY movies while the cast and crew address the challenges of building on the legacy with CREED

BECOMING ADONIS- a behind-the-scenes look at Michael B. Jordon training for the role of Adonis Johnson (Creed).

 

19 ½ minutes of deleted scenes cut for pacing, but these ten scenes are great scenes to watch.

 

Also included is a code to download and stream a digital HD copy of the movie.

 

FINAL ANALYSIS: CREED is the best boxing movie since the first four ROCKY movies and Stallone manages to say something new as Rocky in this spin-off/ homage to the original ROCKY.  I do wish they had more detailed extras, but the deleted scenes are worth watching.

 

This review is ©3-7-2015 David Blackwell and cannot be reprinted without permission.  Send all comments to feedback@enterline-media.com

 

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