The past in dynamic Creed III is the threatening opponent for Adonis Creed or “Donny” (Michael B. Jordan) in the form of a friend who emerges from prison, Damian Anderson, or “Dame” (Jonathan Majors). Because of their troubled youth at a foster home, they are involved in an incident that puts Dame in prison for half his life while Donny runs free. Dame wants Creed, now retired heavy-weight champ, to help him become champ and thereby makeup for Dame’s lost years and in a way exonerate Donny.
It is not a bad storyline if a bit absurd at how Donny can arrange this championship for Dame. Jordan, now director of the film, succeeds in creating tension both on and off the ring. The film has a good time with closeups, putting the audience between combatants up close and personal. The intimacy extends to tender scenes with his deaf daughter, Amara (Mila Davis-Kent), and the stock frustration of Donny’s long-suffering wife, Bianca (Tessa Thompson).
Jordan and writers Keenan Coogler and Zach Baylin have sought out new territory in a boxing franchise that comes from 1979’s Rocky until the ninth with Creed III. Although it is challenging to come close to classics like Raging Bull or even Million Dollar baby, this film is both entertaining and character developing in its own way. Who has not, like Donny, faced a past that attempts to upend the present, with which one should have contended long before becoming settled and wealthy?
A deaf daughter—a strong motif that suggests people are not listening—is never fully fleshed out but serves as a signal that these artists want to abandon such cliches as rebellious pre-teens or useless family members of a cultural titan who neglects the closest family for a Rolls Royce. Speaking of which, Creed’s car and modernist LA mansion do nothing to dispel the stereotypes of the nouveau riche often associated with blue-collar success. Allowing a child to witness the final blood sporting fight between rivals, one of them her dad, is something Rocky would never have allowed, so now and then Jordan shows he is a talented greenhorn.
Creed eschews violence as the only way to defeat the past by winning with the immediate treasures like family. The challenge for Donny? Free his emotions, which have been imprisoned longer than Dame had been locked up.
Although Creed III has not the literary heft of great boxing classics, it has the will to be. With more scenes like the ones between Donny and Dame and the stunning cinematography of Kramer Morgenthau, Jordan may TKO the past in his next installment of the most prominent series in media history. Netflix’s Cobra Kai can stand aside.
Creed III
Director: Michael B. Jordan
Screenplay: Keenan Coogler (Space Jam: A New Legacy), Zach Baylin (King Richard)
Cast: Jordan (Black Panther: Wakanda Forever), Tessa Thompson (Thor: Ragnarok)
Run Time: 1h 56M
Rating: PG-13
John DeSando, a Los Angeles Press Club first-place winner for National Entertainment Journalism, hosts NPR’s It’s Movie Time and hosts Cinema Classics as well as podcasts Back Talk and Double Take out of WCBE 90.5 FM. Contact him at JohnDeSando52@gmail.com
