There has been a huge trend of sequels and remakes in Hollywood over the past few years, and while some of them were necessary, many were not. The movie Creed 2 is one of those rare exceptions that is actually worthwhile. Creed 2, sequel to Creed, once again stars Michael B. Jordan, who was in the mega successful Black Panther earlier this year. The first Creed film was basically an origin story which introduced the main character and established his past struggles with growing up in foster care and wanting to live up to his father’s name.
If you have a chance, I definitely recommend you check it out over winter break this year.
Once again Jordan teams up with his mentor and trainer Rocky Balboa, played by the Oscar-nominated Sylvester Stallone. With the first film being a character development story, the stakes are higher this time around; Adonis Creed has a family to take care of while he must defend his title against Viktor Drago (Florian Munteanu). Viktor is the son of Ivan Drago (Dolph Lundgren), the man who killed Adonis’ father Apollo Creed in a boxing match that was featured in the film Rocky 4. Balboa tries to convince Creed not to take the fight because he fears Creed will fall to the same fate his father did when he went against Ivan 33 years earlier. Creed feels it’s his duty to fight Viktor, to both defend his title and honor his father’s legacy. Actress Tessa Thompson also returns as Bianca, and provides much needed support for Creed during his trial of fire.
Creed 2 is definitely equal in quality to the first film, and has a very strong “family first” message underscoring its emotional tone. Creed 2 is the sequel to a reboot of the Rocky franchise -which is generally a recipe for disaster- but it stands as a worthy sequel. Creed 2 is, in my opinion, one of the year’s best films; it has emotion, great character development, and a strong father-and-son message that’s very rare in sports dramas today. If you have a chance, I definitely recommend you check it out over winter break this year.
