So...I absolutely loved EVERYTHING about "Creed"!! The characters, the back story, the acting, the directing, the plot, the actors, the music...EVERYTHING! I was totally invested in Donnie (Michael B. Jordan), while at the same time enthralled in the stories of those around him. The film did an excellent job of bringing depth to the other characters by exploring their own backstories in such a way that you feel as though you not only care for them, but understand who they are and why. The music was done perfectly! Seamless blending of new songs and songs from the original "Rocky" films, and when I say blending I mean literally blending the songs together into one song sometimes! It was done in a way that kept you hype while reminding you that you are watching the continuance of a legendary film series (and I'm not even a "Rocky" fan...not sure I've even seen a full "Rocky" film). Speaking of the film series, "Creed" also manages to tie up loose ends from the older films without distracting from the story or making someone like me who hasn't seen the other films feel lost. Just enough details, with the perfect delivery, to know what was being referenced. Prime example, when my grandma asked if Rocky's son was in the movie, I was able to tell her he's alive and living in Canada but wasn't in the film. And most importantly, the movie was so inspiring! The entire film embodied the inspiration people still get when they here "Eye of the Tiger!"
So here's the story... #SPOILER #ALERT
But first, as I mentioned, I haven't watched other "Rocky" films. And I'm so excited about telling you all how amazing this film is...I'm cranking this review out tonight. So I'm not going to do much backstory research on the past films. I don't know what happened on and off the older films. So don't judge. My historical knowledge is simply based on what was shared during "Creed," and nothing else. Alright...let' go to Philly...well, actually let's start in L.A.
So Adonis Johnson is the love child of Apollo Creed and the woman he cheated on his wife, Mary Anne Creed (Phylicia Rashad), with. Apollo died during a boxing match before Adonis was born. Okay, I lied...I had to at least wiki Apollo. So apparently he died during a match in "Rocky IV" after telling Rocky not to end the fight no matter what. Okay...back to "Creed." So Adonis was raised by his mother for a few years before she died, after which he was put in foster homes and group homes. Also, he didn't know who his father was.
So the film actually starts in juvie, where a young Adonis is involved in a fight. Mary Anne Creed comes to see him, and he assumes she is there to take him to another group home. But she tells him Apollo Creed is his father, and when he asks how she knows him, she tells him she's his wife. Then she offers to let him come live with her. Yes, Mrs. Creed has decided to take in the child from her deceased husband's affair. She raises him as her own, though he keeps his mother's last name, Johnson. Though she doesn't like the idea of him fighting (makes sense since her husband, his father, died in the ring), Donnie can't control his itch to fight (must be the Creed blood). He's going down to Mexico fighting, where he's 15-0, and even quits his nice office job shortly before getting his new promotion and office. Then he goes to the Delphi Gym, where Apollo used to train, to try to get some training from Tony "Little Duke" Burton (Wood Harris...who remembers when Jordan and Harris were on "The Wire" together! Also...did a little more research...Tony "Little Duke" Burton seems to be an ode to Apollo's trainer, Tony "Duke" Evers, who was played by Tony Burton. Not sure why they switched the last names), but "Little Duke" refuses to train Donnie. He only wants to work with fighters who are fighting, because they have to fight to survive, unlike Donnie who is well-off. In an attempt to prove his fighting ability, Donnie jumps in the ring and manages to take down a fighter. But he wasn't quite up for the next fighter who took on his challenge, Danny "Stuntman" Wheeler (played by former super middleweight champion Andre Ward). He lost the second match, proving he's not quite as ready as he thought. But what do you expect when you are going against the boxer who is scheduled to take on the current world champion, "Pretty" Ricky Conlan (played by professional boxer, Tony Bellew). But being a true fighter, this only inspires Donnie to pack up his stuff and move to Philly in the hopes of training with Rocky Balboa (Sylvester Stallone, duh! lol). He tells his mom he's decided to go continue his pursuit of fighting, to her dismay, and heads to Philly.
He moves into a cramp apartment in Philly, where he lives above Bianca (Tessa Thompson, I am so enjoying watching her "star" grow as an actress!), his neighbor who unapologetically blasts her music at night. When he sees a poster of her outside a club he's running by and enters, he discovers she's a singer. And when he asks her to dinner he learns the songstress is suffering from progressive hearing loss and will soon be completely deaf (hence the unapologetic loud music). The two begin a budding romance that is perfectly timed and allowed to develop throughout the film (with some minor glitches along the way like her discovering he hid the fact that his father was Apollo Creed and him getting in a fight with the headliner she opens for at one of the biggest venues in Philly because he didn't like being called "Baby Creed").
Shortly after moving to Philly, Donnie reaches out to Rocky. After asking a million questions about things most people wouldn't know about Rocky and Apollo, Rocky learns Donnie is Apollo's son. But when Donnie asks him to train him, Rocky declines but welcomes him to stop by for anything (other than training of course). So Donnie goes to the Mighty Mickey Gym, where Rocky used to train. Pete Sporino (Ritchie Coster) friend of Rocky, owner of the gym, and father and trainer of 17-0 undefeated boxer, Leo "The Lion" Soprino (played by professional boxer Gabe Rosado), let's Donnie join the gym but only offers to supply occasional check-in training, as his focus is on training his son.
So Donnie is essentially training himself at the gym. So he goes back to Rocky, or as he affectionately begins to refer to him, "Unc", and asks for a workout plan. Rocky gives him a workout plan, but after visiting the graves of Paulie (his brother-in-law/best friend) and Adrian (his wife) for Paulie's birthday, Rocky has a change of heart. He decides to go to the Mighty Mickey Gym, where Pete approaches him about working with his son Leo, something he's been asking Rocky to do for years. Rocky politely declines, and to Pete's surprise, Donnie comes in and goes straight up to his "Unc" Rocky. Pete points out that he called Rocky "Unc," but respecting Donnie's wish to conceal the fact that he's Apollo son, the two play as if they just happened to have met at Rocky's restaurant.
So Rocky begins training Donnie, and Pete is checking them out every step of the way. Being an opportunist, Pete decides if he can't get his son more recognition by having Rocky in his corner, he can bring more limelight by at least having him fight a boxer that is under Rocky's tutelage. So he asks Donnie if he wants to fight Leo, and of course Donnie is quick to jump on the opportunity. But Rocky isn't quite sure he's ready. He hasn't even seen him in a match, and Leo is pretty established. Donnie convinces Rocky to help him fight Leo by declaring he's moving in with Rocky to begin an intense training camp with him. And intense it is! Rocky wakes him up at 5:45 a.m. for a brief jam session to an old school classic, and then has him run along side Rocky's van to a gym in North Philly (can't train in the same gym as your competition). Rocky then introduces Donnie to a couple of trainers that will help train him on skills Rocky can't train him on. We're also introduced to the Philly bike culture. And later, when Donnie meets Leo in the ring, he's victorious!
Meanwhile, Conlan is facing time in prison, and is looking to complete one more fight to financially provide for his family. Unfortunately, his temper gets the best of him, and he punches Wheeler in the jaw at the press conference for their upcoming fight! Wheeler refuses to fight, and actually plans on suing both Conlan and WBC. So, when Conlan's manager, Tommy Holiday (Graham McTavish), learns about Donnie's victory over Leo after it's leaked to the press that Donnie is Apollo Creed's son (likely leaked by Leo's father, who told Rocky before the match between the pair he did some research in L.A. and found out who Donnie really was), he sees it as an opportunity to set up a final fight for Conlan that could bring in real money based on the Creed name, and an easy victory since Donnie had way less experience (1 if you don't count the amateur fights in Mexico). So Tommy calls Rocky to set up a time to meet to discuss a match. Tommy meets with Rocky and Donnie, and Rocky keeps it all the way real when he says Tommy wouldn't be asking for the match if he didn't believe it would be an easy win for Conlan. But Donnie wants to at least think about it.
Later, after telling Rocky he wouldn't even consider it if someone else had been his trainer, Rocky agrees to train him to fight Conlan. But then things take a sad twist. While the two are training in the ring, Rocky gets pretty sick, and Donnie takes him to the hospital where they run some tests on him. Rocky learns he has cancer, but refuses to start treatment, because he saw what his wife endured when she underwent chemo and didn't survive. He asked the doctor not to tell anyone, but Donnie found the pamphlets in Rocky's jacket. Donnie tries to convince Rocky to start treatment, but Rocky essentially tells him he's lived his life and has nothing to live for (noting the one thing he could ever want he can never have again, more time with his wife). When Donnie asks what about him, Rocky says they aren't family, he's just his trainer.
This of course sets Donnie off and he leaves to go to Bianca's performance, which is where he gets in a fight with the headliner who called him "Baby Creed." And he lands himself in jail. When Rocky goes to the jail to get him, Donnie doesn't want to have anything to do with him. But before he leaves, Rocky tells Donnie he needs to forgive his father. Despite tears falling, indicating Donnie is still hurt that his father wasn't in his life, he tells Rocky to just leave. When he gets out and goes to see Bianca, she is far from pleased with how he conducted himself at her event. And though she hears him out about the fact that he was in a bad state of mind after just learning about Rocky's diagnosis, she closes the door on him. He finds himself alone (even the gym is locked), but he eventually goes back to Rocky's place. Rocky has him join him for dinner, and Donnie gets Rocky to agree to fight for his life while Donnie fights to beat Conlan! So the film goes into a touching montage of Donnie training with Rocky and caring for Rocky as he undergoes treatment at the hospital, as well as caring for him at home.
Finally, the time comes for the match! It nearly ends the way Conlan's match with Wheeler did, after Conlan kept cutting off Donnie during the press conference and calling him a fake Creed. But Conlan is pulled out of the press conference before anything really goes down. The night before the match, Rocky surprises Donnie by having Bianca flown in. And in the dressing room, on the night of the match, Donnie finds another surprise...this time from his mom, Mary Anne (who is watching the match from home). She sent him a pair of shorts with Apollo's iconic red, blue, and white stars and stripes. Creed was stitched on the front and Johnson on the back. She also sent a message telling him to create his own legacy.
The film gets you hype for the fight from the moment Donnie begins walking out to Tupac's "Hail Mary." And what a fight it is! You're fully invested, and feel like it's a real fight. You know Donnie is the underdog (having less experience and being smaller than Conlan). And you're wondering if the film is going to give you the predictable ending with Donnie winning, or an alternative predictable end where he just plain loses just so we can't say the movie ended in a predictable way. But the film gives you neither ending!
The match starts off with Conlan clearly doing the better job, but by the second round you see something come over Donnie. But as soon as you start thinking here we go, now he's taking him down, he loses the third round horribly. You're sitting there like you're watching a real fight and your film intuition has no bearing on the outcome. It's a good fight, almost like anyone's match, and there isn't a clear victor. BUT THEN...Donnie gets laid out! I mean, LAID OUT! Rocky, Bianca, and Mary Anne (through the tv) are screaming for him to get up, while Conlan is up on the rings celebrating his victory!
Then the film hits you with flashback scenes from the movie, followed by a flashback to Apollo fighting (as Donnie often watched video's of his father's fights), and Donnie springs up like a possessed man! He's back in this thing! BUT...one of his eyes is swollen shut. The ref is asking him how many fingers he is holding up, and he can't see. And you know Rocky is thinking back to when he let Apollo keep fighting and how that turned out. But they tap Donnie on the neck to tell him how many fingers the ref is holding up so he'll be allowed to keep fighting in the final round. And what a round. By the end of the round he has Conlan on the ground with a possible K.O. victory.
But, the rules say you can't win by the bell in the final round, and Conlan manages to get up. So the judges have to actually count points. And with everyone rushing into the ring celebrating Donnie, you hear the announcer saying "still undefeated..." Yep, Conlan won! But Conlan gives Donnie his due respect, and it is clear, though Conlan won what is likely his last fight, Donnie is the true winner here! The crowd even begins chanting his name, CREED!!!
LOVED IT!!!!!