Creed III (2023)

Starring: Michael B. Jordan, Jonathan Majors, Tessa Thompson, Wood Harris, Phylicia Rashad, Florian Munteanu, Anthony Bellew and Barry Pepper, with Terence Crawford, Canelo Alvarez, Stephen A. Smith, Kehlani, Todd Grisham, and Mauro Ranallo
Grade: A+

If you want a quick teaser as to what Creed III is about, look no further than the great quote from Wood Harris’s Tony “Little Duke” Evers to our protagonist:

“You out there boxing. I need you to start fighting! Let go of the fear. Let go of the guilt. Let go of it! Let go of whatever was and walk into what is. Go out there and be ferocious! Do you hear me? Go out there and be Adonis Creed!”

Summary

In Los Angeles, California in 2002, young Golden Gloves winner “Diamond Dame” Damian Anderson drives over to a young Adonis Creed’s house at night. Adonis’s mother Mary Anne (Rashad) checks on Adonis to make sure he’s sleeping and then leaves his room. Immediately after, Adonis gets up, sneaks out, and gets in the car with Dame, his best friend that he looks at like a big brother. Dame thought Adonis got scared because he was about to check out. Adonis just tells him to drive. They get to some club and Dame leads him through the back entrance. Everyone there knows Dame and they walk through some rooms with some shady people. They get into the main part of the club where the boxing matches are happening. Dame knows he has easy work tonight, even if he doesn’t know his opponent yet. Also, Tony “Little Duke” Evers (Harris) is there. He’s training some of the talent and is there to watch. Soon after, Adonis finds out Dame’s opponent, Michael Fitzbaum. He’s orthodox, a solid fighter, and he’s got a good jab, though he overreaches. He also said he’s going to be the first person to knock Dame out, which gets a laugh out of both of them. According to Adonis, the right will be open because Michael tore his labrum playing football last year, so Dame knows he has to make Michael miss. Adonis reaches over into Dame’s bag for something and finds a gun and money in an envelope. He asks Dame if he wants to bet the money on him, and Dame is sure of it. So, Adonis goes into the main gym and puts the money on Dame for a first-round knockout. From across the ring sitting in the stands, Tony sees Adonis place the bet and looks at him. Adonis sees him but tries to act like he doesn’t. It’s time for the fight. Fighting out of Crenshaw, Dame’s match against Michael is for the regional Golden Gloves title. The first round begins, and Adonis is coaching him from the crowd on what to look out for. Michael starts out strong, and Dame ties him up. When he does, he tells Adonis to watch him (“Checkmate”), as this was all part of the plan. Seconds after the break, he knocks out Michael and wins the title. Even Tony is impressed.

On the ride home, Dame and Adonis laugh and joke about the fight. Dame takes some of his money and talks about buying a big ass diamond and says he’s going to get Adonis one too, handing Adonis his share of the profit. Adonis appreciates it and gives him a gift that belonged to his father Apollo Creed. It’s an original ticket from the “Rumble in the Jungle” between Muhammed Ali and George Foreman enclosed in a protective casing. Obviously, Dame loves it and talks about how he’s going to get there one day. He’s going to win nationals, take home gold at the Olympics, and he’ll turn professional. He assures Adonis that he will be there with him, adding a joke that someone will have to carry his bags. They pull up to a convenience store, and Adonis goes out to get some snacks for the both of them. Before going inside, he runs into adult Leon (Aaron D. Alexander) who’s doing some scratch-off tickets. Leon doesn’t remember him, but Adonis does and beats the living hell out of him outside the store.

In South Africa 15 years later, the now adult Adonis Creed (Jordan) is fighting his old rival “Pretty” Ricky Conlan (Bellew) from Creed in what is going to be Adonis’s last fight. Tony is still Adonis’s trainer, and Adonis’s wife Bianca (Thompson) is in the crowd. Both are surprised at Adonis’s underperformance so far. Though Adonis takes a series of combinations, he sees his opening. He just hasn’t taken it yet. When the first round ends, he’s smiling, despite losing the round. He tells a confused Tony “Checkmate”, just like Dame said to him 15 years ago. Using sign language, Bianca tells Adonis to stop playing and to knock him out. In the second round, Adonis sees the opening again and takes it, hitting a few devastating body shots in a row that drop Conlan. In the last fight of his career, Adonis is the new undisputed heavyweight champion of the world, a feat that hasn’t happened in two decades. He goes to Conlan and shows him respect just like Conlan showed him at the end of Creed before he celebrates. In Los Angeles in the present day, Adonis is napping on the couch in his mansion while his deaf daughter Amara (Mila Davis-Kent) wakes him up to remind him how he promised to play “Tea party” with her. So, he puts on his frog onesie and plays with her. Later, he checks on Bianca who’s working on her new song for Kehlani in their in-house studio. She asks how taking care of Amara went, and he admits he had to bribe her with 6 scoops of ice cream to get her to go to sleep. She jokes that retirement made him soft, and Adonis says he has trouble telling his daughter “No”. The two start messing around and get intimate on the spot, despite all the work Bianca has to do. Later, the now adult Dame Anderson (Majors) has been released from prison. Adonis is at the boxing gym he now runs with Tony as his head trainer. From his office, he watches a sparring session. Their fighter Felix Chavez (José Benavidez Jr.) is preparing for a fight with Viktor Drago (Munteanu), but he’s ignoring Tony’s advice. Tony knows better than anyone that you can’t punch through Viktor, but Felix is still trying to do so with this sparring partners.

Adonis comes down to tell Tony what to stress, but Tony knows this. After the session is over for a moment, Felix tells his mother Laura (Selenis Leyva) that they need new fighters because these guys are trash.

Laura reminds him that it’s not easy to find fighters, but he doesn’t want to hear it because he knows what he’s up against. Adonis takes Felix aside and tells him that he wants to get Felix paid. However, he can’t do that if he keeps knocking out sparring partners. He has Viktor in four weeks. Still, Felix is the champ. Adonis knows he has power, but it’s not always about how hard you can hit. It’s about control and focus. He tells him to listen to Tony, so Felix agrees to do so. Working on promoting, Adonis takes a phone call outside and argues how Felix’s split has to be bigger since he’s the champ, even if Viktor has the bigger name. He even tells the guy on the other line to have Viktor call him. Adonis turns to see a man leaning against his car, so he hangs up. It’s Dame, but Adonis doesn’t recognize him. Dame asks for an autograph, but Adonis declines and tells him to get off his car. Once Dame jokes that he’s come a long way from bumming rides from his mom, it finally clicks for Adonis. Dame just got back from the hood and stopped by the old gym only to see that it’s been upgraded. Dame plays it cool and just wanted to let him know what’s up and goes to walk away. Adonis stops him and invites him out to get some food, so they do. At the restaurant, they get their food and Dame jokingly comments how he’s surprised Adonis still eats with the common folk. Adonis tries when he can, but there’s a lot of things he can’t do anymore that he used to. After Dame goes hard on the hot sauce, he comments how it’s been 18 years since he’s had this. He admits he had a few years tacked on during his sentence, but he just got out last week. Dame says he wrote him a few times and sent it to Mary Anne’s in Bel-Air, but Adonis is confused because he never got them. Dame smiles and says he saw every one of Adonis’s fights and saw that he finally was able to make it to Africa, just like how Dame wanted to do all those years back. It made him proud how Adonis ended his run, adding that it looked like Adonis remembered some of the moves he taught him. Adonis recalls a time when Dame knocked him out, and Dame laughs. Dame remembers it, but he also recalls picking him up right after.

They discuss Dame’s plans for work, how he has vague plans, how he wants to keep his parole officer off his ass, and how Adonis is willing to help him in anyway. All Dame has to do is ask. Dame turns him down because he didn’t come to see him for a handout. Adonis tries to explain that he didn’t mean it like that. Changing the subject, he asks him what the plan is. After all these years, Dame has the same plan. He wants to be champ. He’s still in shape and feels like he’s ready. Adonis seems concerned, but he goes with it and invites him to come by the gym. He will set him up with Tony. Afterwards, Adonis gets home but stays in the driveway. In a quick flashback, he remembers what happened all those years ago. When the young Adonis was beating down Leon, two adult men grabbed him and started to attack him, prompting Dame to get out of the car and point his gun at them to save Adonis. Going back to the present, Adonis heads inside. In the living room, Bianca and Mary Anne are with Amara, and Bianca jokes that she’s trying to convince Mary Anne to live there to be a live-in braider. Adonis is open to the idea of Mary Anne living there and suggests it, but she’s doing good. She just mentions how Adonis was late for dinner, so he says he just got caught up. Once they send Amara to bed, Adonis and Bianca want to bring up Mary Anne living with them again, but it’s because she recently had a stroke. Even so, she has no interest in leaving her home. She changes the subject to ask what’s up with Adonis, so he says he ran into Dame. Mary Anne remembers him immediately and it sours her mood. Bianca doesn’t know who Dame is though. The next day at the gym, Dame is hitting the heavy bag, and everyone is looking at him. Privately, Tony tells Adonis how he doesn’t like this. He tells him that this isn’t a charity, and Dame is older than Adonis. Adonis insists he’s just trying to give Dame a break and also notes how no one is lining up to get in the ring with Felix. He just wants Tony to let Dame spar, but Tony knows what Adonis is doing. He insists that Adonis doesn’t owe Dame anything. Frustrated, Tony still agrees to let them spar. Adonis brings Dame over to the ring for the sparring session and tells him, “The champ’s gotta start somewhere” to try and encourage him.

At the deaf school, some girl takes Amara’s painting from her and rips it in half, prompting Amara to punch her.

Adonis and Bianca have to talk to the teacher about the incident, and Adonis asks why this girl was bullying his daughter and why isn’t she being punished too. Bianca tries to calm things down and insists that they believe in non-violent situations, forcing Adonis to agree. The teacher does say they like Amara and she’s intelligent, but she just has a tendency to fight. Later at home, Adonis’s idea is to teach Amara how to fight, something Bianca doesn’t like too much. He didn’t think he’d have to at a deaf school, but he realizes he was wrong. Bianca agrees that Amara should learn how to defend herself but her definition of this is different from Adonis’s. Adonis gives the hypothetical of what if she was in place where she’s supposed to be safe and she’s not. She won’t know how to protect herself. When Bianca asks where this is coming from, he just says “Nowhere. It’s just a fact”. Bianca thinks they need to teach Amara how to assess her emotions, but Adonis knows this isn’t going to work with a bully. Bianca thinks this means for Amara to never express her feelings and to let it out by hitting somebody. She knows this worked for Adonis, but she reminds him that now that he doesn’t have this outlet, he should think about talking how he feels. If not to Bianca, to somebody. It’s either that or get a hobby. Adonis jokingly picks the latter and says he’s going to start making music with her, but Bianca doesn’t want to hear it. Amara has to know why she wants to fight, not just doing it. The solution to every problem is not a punch to the face. Adonis agrees but adds that it sometimes is. They end this conversation there because Dame has arrived for dinner. Dame jokes that he found the place by asking around, “Where the black family live at?”. He meets Bianca and Amara, and Adonis helps him with some sign language to greet Amara. Following dinner, they hang out outside on the roof, and Dame is happy for him. He talks about how Adonis has a mansion and married a rock star with many gold records under her belt. Though she mostly produces artists, it doesn’t lessen her accomplishments. Dame asks when her next show is, but Bianca says she doesn’t perform like that these days.

She took a break because she was starting to get issues with her hearing on stage, so she’s trying to be careful and preserve what she has left. That’s what has led her to producing. It noticeably pains her to say it, and Dame brings up how hard it must be for her. She plays it off and then asks how long Dame and Adonis have known each other. He talks about how they used to be brothers and how they shared a room for two years at the group home. Bianca takes Adonis’s uncomfortable expressions as her cue to leave, so she says she’s going to put Amara to bed. She does invite Dame to the label party though, which he appreciates. Afterwards, the two go inside and Dame goes on about how Adonis is all domesticated and doesn’t come to the hood anymore. Adonis attributes it to being married. He sees Dame eyeing the Hennesy, so he pours up and the two have a shot. Adonis notes how some of Dame’s comments seem to imply he’s getting soft and messes with him a bit over it. He left boxing, but boxing didn’t leave him. Walking over to Adonis’s wall of titles, Dame tells Adonis that he didn’t come back to be a punching bag for some chump, referring to the sparring session with Felix. Adonis tells him not to sleep on Felix because he earned his spot the hard way. However, Dame counters with the fact that he did 18 years the hard way. Getting to the point, Dame wants a title shot. Adonis explains it doesn’t work like that, but Dame argues that if Felix is that good, what does he have to lose? What does Adonis have to lose? Adonis questions if he really thinks he can just snap his fingers and make Dame a contender overnight, but Dame responds, “Ain’t that what happened to you?”. Adonis doesn’t know what to say. Dame respects Adonis, but his clock is ticking and he knows it. Adonis still says he will help him like he promised, but what Dame is asking for is kind of impossible. After Dame mentions how Adonis doesn’t know what it’s like to be in prison, he adds that he was the best, and Adonis agrees with him. Dame argues that he never got to prove it.

He says that if Apollo Creed could take a chance on a young underdog (Rocky Balboa), why can’t Adonis?

The next morning, Bianca asks Adonis how everything went after she went to bed, and Adonis is vague and just says it was good. She then asks why Adonis never told her about the group home, which he passes off as not being much of anything. He admits he was around Amara’s age when he was there, but Bianca can see his face and drops it since she can see he doesn’t want to talk about it. Adonis then brings up how it’s about Dame and how he asked for a shot against Felix. He said “No”, saying that people wait their whole lives for a shot like that and Dame isn’t even a pro. Bianca asks why he looks like he’s still considering it and he just looks at her. At the gym, Dame is in another sparring session with Felix, and he hits him with a dirty shot to the chest after holding his arm. They have to be separated, and Adonis comes out of his office to see what’s going on. Adonis calms Dame down, and Dame just reminds him what he wants. Adonis says he’s working on it and has him go take a walk to cool off. Next, Adonis tries to talk to Tony and he’s not happy because Adonis let Dame come on here with a chip on his shoulder. Just then, Dame walks back in and Tony shuts up, so Dame antagonizes him and tells him not to get quiet now. Adonis assures Tony that he’s got it under control. Tony’s advice is that Dame is basically telling Adonis who he is and to believe him. Following this, Dame goes to his lowly apartment angry as can be, gets in a serious workout in close quarters, and looks at the mirror where an old newspaper headline about him is there to remind him of what he was. At night at the gym, Amara watches footage of an Adonis fight on her iPad and hides once Adonis comes down from his office. She says she was cleaning, but Tony told Adonis otherwise. Amara wants to fight, but she doesn’t want to get in trouble with Bianca, so Adonis suggests they make it their secret. Amara is elated. So, the two go over to the heavy bag. He points out that she’s throwing what is called a straight right, and she’s quick to point out that it’s how he beat Danny Wheeler. This surprises Adonis, especially when she says she’s watched all of his fights.

She wants to know more, so Adonis goes on about it’s more about timing, focus, and control rather than pure violence.

At the label party, Adonis, Bianca, Tony, Dame, Felix, and Laura are all there while Kehlani performs for everybody. After her performance, Adonis greets Dame at the bar and tells him to not worry about Felix and Laura. He’s not. Adonis just wants Dame to have fun. Viktor Drago walks in and gives Adonis the nod, which he reciprocates. Viktor goes over to Duke and Felix, and Adonis tells Dame that he’s going to make Viktor/Felix the fight of the year. Adonis goes over to them and says they got the venue and the money. He’s expecting them to break records. At the same time, Bianca tells a singer to send her the tracks because she can’t wait to hear them. Dame approaches Bianca once the singer leaves, and they have pleasant conversation until Dame asks how she feels hearing someone else sing her song. She says it feels good because if it had to be anybody, who they got for it isn’t too bad. Dame jokes that he doesn’t believe her before asking if Adonis misses boxing. Bianca says he doesn’t, at least that’s what he says to her. With this in mind, she wants to know what happened to their friendship. Dame corrects her and says she was meaning to ask how he got locked up. He doesn’t give too much of the details but gives out the basics of getting into a fight, he had a few priors, he pulled out a gun, and Adonis was there to witness it all. He’s not saying the guy didn’t deserve it, prompting Bianca to ask who the guy he’s talking about is. Dame gives up that the guy’s name was Leon, but he’s going to leave the rest to Adonis to tell her. Just then, a fight breaks out and Viktor is attacked by some random guy with a baton. The man is arrested, but the Viktor/Felix fight is now in jeopardy. The next day, Adonis is on the phone dealing with all the legal issues, assures they are not cancelling the fight, and Viktor is seeing a specialist. They’re saying at least 6 months. He still says they will figure something out and to not move the date. On the news report, it says Viktor suffered a concussion, and multiple fractures to his right arm and hand.

Next, Adonis meets with Felix and Laura about how he’s going to find another fighter to replace Viktor, though Laura isn’t happy. She wants Felix to be paid now.

So, Adonis says they have maybe one or two other contenders. There’s Ortiz and Sporino, though Sporino is recovering from his last fight. Laura wants the other option. Adonis looks over at Tony who shakes his head. Adonis admits his idea is risky, but it could be a payday if they pull it off. Tony says Adonis wants Felix to fight Dame, which Felix laughs off. He doesn’t consider Dame a real fighter, but Adonis points out how real he was sparring with him. Laura mentions how Dame is older than Adonis, and Adonis agrees. Even so, he knows Dame will fight tooth and nail. Plus, they have to think outside the box. Laura can see Tony’s face and knows he doesn’t like it, and Tony is honest about it. He doesn’t consider Dame a boxer and says that he wants to fight the world and is trying to hurt people. He thinks it will be a circus, but Adonis turns it into a positive spin and says Tony means it will be a “show”. Adonis promises people will show up. People love an underdog story, mentioning how people are still talking to this day about when Apollo Creed gave Rocky a shot. Adonis admits to Felix that it’s not what they promised, but he would do if he was in Felix’s position. After Felix tells Laura that he trusts Adonis, they decide to agree. In a special on Showtime, it is talked about how Adonis took over the Delphi Boxing Academy with friend, trainer, and partner “Little Duke” and how Adonis has trained and mentored the next generation of boxing legends. One of them is apparently Terence Crawford. The brightest jewel of their camp however is considered to be Felix. Adonis talks Felix up greatly. It is then said that Adonis is staking his reputation and legacy on the unlikely opponent that is Dame. Dame is interviewed and says he was the highest ever ranked amateur in boxing before he got locked up. The narrator talks about how Dame was a Golden Gloves champion out of the Crenshaw district in Los Angeles. Still, he’s only now making his professional debut after almost two decades in prison.

Will it be a Cinderella story or another notch on the champion’s belt?

It’s time for the WBC Heavyweight Championship fight between Felix and Dame, and Adonis arrives with his family. After greeting Canelo Alvarez and his wife, Adonis goes to see Felix prepare for the fight. As Dame gets his ankle monitor taken off, Adonis goes over to see him too. Dame thanks him, but Adonis says there’s no need. Just go out there and put on. From home, Mary Anne is watching the fight. After their introductions where it’s revealed that Felix is 15-1 with 14 knockouts, Adonis is sitting with Laura, Amara, and Bianca. He tells Amara that Dame needs to start strong because Felix will take it easily otherwise. Adonis, Bianca, and Amara are confident in Felix, and they should be. In the first round, Felix begins on the hunt, but Dame does well with a tight guard. He then responds with an awkward punch near the shoulder of Felix. He knows he just took the power out of Felix’s punch because of it. Dame starts calling him soft and starts to control the fight. Adonis and Bianca share a worried glance. Dame and Felix get in close, and Dame sneaks in a knee that the ref doesn’t see. In the corner at the end of the round, Tony tells Felix that he will deal with the refs and to not let Dame agitate him because that’s what he’s trying to do. In the other corner, Dame sees the ice bag on Felix’s arm and just nods to himself. In the second round, Dame gets Felix with another shot and hits him with an elbow that looked more deliberate. The ref notices it, the commentators notice it, and Adonis notices it. The ref gives a 2-point deduction for an intentional elbow and tells Dame that he will get disqualified if he keeps this up. Following the break, Felix finishes the round strong, right to the bell. It busts some of Dame’s teeth. Adonis goes to check on Felix, and he says he’s still good to go. Tony reminds Felix that pain is temporary, Dame is a bum, and Felix is the champ. Dame is still eying the ice on Felix’s arm. In the third round, Dame takes control and hits so many devasting shots that Bianca takes Amara out of there.

Soon after, Dame knocks out Felix to become the new unified heavyweight champion of the world. Adonis and everyone check on Felix who looks to be seriously injured. Dame looks over at Adonis hoping he would be happy for him, but Adonis is pissed at what just transpired. In addition, Mary Anne turns off the TV in disgust back at her home. As Felix is sent to a hospital, Adonis tries to tell Tony that he will make things right, but he doesn’t want to hear it. He tells Adonis to stay away from the gym for a while. Mary Anne then texts Adonis to come over, so he does. She finally shows him all the letters Dame sent Adonis when he was in prison. She withheld them from Adonis to help him move on. She insists that she was trying to protect him, but Adonis considered Dame a brother. Mary Anne’s actions made Dame think that Adonis abandoned him. He questions if she knew what they went through, and she says she knew the man who they beat up. Realizing she knows Leon, Adonis counters with how Dame had his back before Mary Anne even knew who Adonis was. Dame treated him like family more than Mary Anne’s two kids ever did in this house, and Mary Anne took that away from him. He then tells her that none of this would have happened if it wasn’t for her. She admits he’s right and there may have been a time when Dame had his back. Nevertheless, that’s not what he’s doing now. She slides a picture over to him from one of the letters sent and leaves the room. Adonis looks at it. Shockingly, it’s a picture Dame took in prison with the guy who attacked Viktor at the club.

It was all a ruse that Dame planned. He wants revenge and badly.

My Thoughts:

With Michael B. Jordan stepping into the director’s chair for the first time to officially take over the franchise, fans get a first glimpse as to what’s to come with Creed III, a darker narrative for the series to show how far the creators are willing to go in telling the story of Adonis Creed. It’s true that it’s a departure from what Rocky was built on, which is probably why Sylvester Stallone exited the production for the first time in the franchise’s history. Nevertheless, to Jordan’s credit and the screenplay work of Keenan Coogler and Zach Baylin, Creed III is an exciting, brooding, extremely compelling narrative that takes the series into a fresh direction that will surely breathe new life into the overall story arc moving forward. Propelled by two flawless performances from Jordan and brilliant co-star Jonathan Majors as the engrossing antagonist, it goes without saying that Creed III is one of the best films coming out of 2023.

This is a very different Adonis Creed in this third go around. Due to the events of the first two films and Rocky Balboa’s teachings in and outside of the ring, Adonis has not only become a fighter deserving of his spot at the top, but he’s also become a more emotionally mature husband, father, and man outside of the sport. In the first act, he comes full circle. He avenges his loss to Ricky Conlan by beating him in the second round with an Apollo-like confidence and becoming the world champion. He reaches the top of the sport and proves he’s his own man and one of the best fighters of his era. Unexpectedly, the narrative shifts to three years later where Adonis is retired. He has turned the Delphi Boxing Academy into the home of Adonis Athletics where he trains, guides, and promotes new fighters and matches, turning into a full-fledged businessman brokering deals and setting up big money events instead of being the headliner in the middle of it all. The kill-or-be-killed motivational drive is gone because he doesn’t need it anymore. He’s happy with his life and doesn’t feel the need to have to prove anything to himself, to the people, or to the sport as an in-ring talent. Now, he’s fully focused on being a promoter and being there for his family, with his daughter Amara being aged up to where she’s in early grade school. It’s a crucial time to be a dad, and he looks as if he’s loving being there for his daughter instead being a full-time fighter who dedicates all his time, workload, and energy into training. He’s still in shape and all, but the “eye of the tiger” that he used to have hasn’t had the need to come back out, yet. Nevertheless, it’s good for him, as elements of this brought out the worst in his personality, leading him to some darker times in his personal life that he had trouble solving from an interpersonal perspective. Really, it’s because he solved most of his problems up until that point by fighting. It’s just like Rocky says in Rocky V. When he has trouble, he fights. It’s how Rocky was built. Because of that, this is just how he thought, which is why he had a hard time adjusting going into his forced retirement.

In Creed II, Adonis has the same mindset, but when he fights and loses in such a disastrous manner AND Amara is born (with hearing problems no less), his outlet of fighting doesn’t apply. It forces him to become stronger and to change in all facets of his life, not just in fighting Viktor Drago. When Rocky passed the torch in the closing scenes of Creed II, he saw that it was time for Adonis to move forward. Rocky himself knew that Adonis didn’t need him anymore, and it was time for him to have his own life, which allowed for Rocky to move on with his, respectfully. It’s in that epilogue where Adonis finally finds gratitude for his deceased father and introduces his own family to Apollo’s tombstone, giving closure to father and son without needing to say it. With this, it makes sense why Adonis is where he is at once Creed III takes shape. All these years later, he’s fought all that anger out of him and is a better man because of it. He’s gotten all the fear out of him too, as he got his win back on Conlan with a dominant win and he previously beat Viktor definitively enough for Ivan Drago to throw in the towel, which ties up the loose end of Rocky not throwing in the towel quick enough before Apollo was killed by Drago. With no new challenges, he doesn’t feel the need to fight anymore, especially with where his family is at. Amara needs him because she’s going through an important time in her life, and they establish early on during a parent/teacher meeting that Amara is a good kid, but she is fighting now too. It mirrors exactly what was told to Mary Anne at the youth detention center in the first act of Creed about a young Adonis, so hearing this establishes that she’s definitely Adonis’s daughter and he needs to keep an extra eye on her to make sure she doesn’t have the same problems he had growing up. Naturally, parenting plays a huge part of Creed III, but it’s not boring. In fact, it’s a unique take on the subject, as Bianca carries the new age mindset of parenting about wanting their child to resolve issues with their minds rather than their fists and Adonis is stuck on the fence.

He doesn’t completely disagree with this notion because Amara shouldn’t be a wild child, but he also knows that sometimes there are situations that do have to be solved with fighting. It can’t be all of them, and we know that as the viewer, but we can’t help but see where Adonis is coming from. The protagonist has been a flawed hero from the first film because of his penchant for automatically resorting to violence, and it costs him a lot. However, what has happened to him in the past led him to acting out and having certain things that trigger his fury. Thankfully, it did work for him, which is something Bianca notes, as he channeled it into a highly successful boxing career that led him into building the empire they are living in. It can’t be ignored because Adonis, and Rocky before him, prove that sometimes fighting can solve problems. In one pivotal conversation the couple has however, Bianca is once again the voice of reason and maturity, explaining how Adonis can’t keep calling back to his boxing career because he’s retired. He doesn’t have the outlet of fighting anymore. It’s over. Now, they have to talk things out when there are problems. There’s no way around it. Creed III plays back and forth with this notion, and it becomes an interesting development as time moves on. Actually, it becomes an ironic point later on because Bianca’s whole thing is that Adonis has to now navigate real life because he can’t fight off every problem with his fists. Yet, when the whole story is heard, Adonis decides to come out of retirement to fight Dame, proving that this is yet another one of those problems that has to be solved with fists. Even though neither Bianca nor Adonis acknowledge Adonis proving her wrong in this aspect, it’s really funny when you think about it. Still, he gave Dame plenty of chances. It just goes to show you that some problems have to be dealt with hands being thrown. On the other hand, the mature mindset does win out in the end, so it’s not like Creed III is out here promoting violence outright. It’s simply a tool that ultimately leads to the important discussions needed for all parties involved to move forward in their lives, and that was a really mature way to finish things out. Just like in life, it’s not all black and white and right and wrong.

There are nuances to situations, feelings, and thought processes, and they do a great job at explaining both sides of the fence and why they come to Adonis’s conclusion once everything is aired out. Once Adonis reveals the truth to Bianca about how Dame went to prison because of him starting that fight with Leon, he talks about how he ran and got away, but Dame got caught. He thinks its cut and dry, but Bianca argues that he was a scared kid and anyone would have ran. Plus, Dame had the gun. That’s not on him. Nonetheless, Adonis still feels terrible because he never reached out, and it became easier to pretend like it never happened. Bianca counters with how that doesn’t make him responsible for how Dame’s life turned out, but this part I can’t agree with it because Adonis did play a part in what happened to Dame. Even so, it’s why this story is so compelling because it’s true to life. Sometimes, there is no straight answer. Bianca is right in saying that Adonis has to forgive himself, so that he can begin to believe that he deserves to the life he’s earned because he does, along with not letting Dame “destroy everything you’ve built”. Though Adonis gets what she’s saying, he still knows Dame better than anyone, which is why he’s quick to tell her that he won’t stop. That is when she gives him the greenlight to make him stop, and it’s yet another power couple moment on how strong, thoughtful, and perfect for each other that Adonis and Bianca are. They are the model everyone should follow on how a married couple should discuss things, analyze life situations, parent, and love. Every succeeding film, you love and respect the foundation these two built together. Really, we can’t get enough of them.

For Rocky traditionalists, Creed III is admittedly not very Rocky in its tone, as this sequel goes deeper into the hood culture aspect of the story and the shady areas of LA, but that’s just it. This is officially Adonis Creed’s story, and Creed III is audiences finally getting to see the vision unfold. That night scene on the beach is a turning point in the franchise’s direction really, with Adonis storming Dame’s party on some high school shit, knocks one guy out clean, and the second guy points a gun at him. It’s a moment where the old Adonis comes out and he’s quick to ask, “That’s what we on?”. It’s such a great response because it gives us just enough to know that the fiery Adonis we know and love is still there when he needs to be. With Jonathan Majors relishing in being this twisted villain, he calms things down and just smiles while he greets Adonis. He’s the undisputed world champion and seeing Adonis furious cues Dame into realizing the jig is up and Adonis knows that Dame got his lick back. Adonis calls him out on that picture, outing him for using that inmate as a hired plant to injure Viktor because Dame knew Adonis would try to get him the title shot as a replacement. Again, for a Rocky/Creed movie, it’s a bit melodramatic and a bit far-fetched, but they do a good enough job with the character work that the story taking this outside-the-box direction is a nice change of pace, especially to set the Creed series on its own path. Even so, Dame doesn’t back down either, nothing how Adonis did get the letters he sent when he was in prison. Instead of explaining how this is Mary Anne’s fault, because with all due respect this was her fault regardless of the stroke, Adonis just asks why Dame lied. He vouched for him, brought him into his house, had him meet his family, and even “put the gloves on your hands like you asked”. In Adonis’s defense, he did all he could to help Dame once he knew he was out, but it doesn’t matter to Dame at this point. Those few months don’t make up for 18 years, and this revenge arc he’s rolling with is just the name of the game.

After Dame reminds Adonis how he used to carry Dame’s bags back when he was the boxer, he goes on about how he doesn’t need Adonis now. He needed him when he got locked up and right when he got out, but it doesn’t matter now. He’s the champ. He got what he wanted. Then, almost all progress is loss in an instant with the combination of Dame’s return, antagonism, and all the repressed memories that come with him. Adonis goes to leave, and Dame trash talks him, alluding to how it’s similar to when he ran away from the crime scene all those years ago. His follow-up is calling him “Baby Creed”. If you remember in the first Creed, that’s the last thing you want to do in Adonis’s presence. It guarantees a fight on the spot with him. In addition, the first two Creed films were all about how Adonis was working to overcome the name, build his own legacy, and eventually come back to honor the name and be worthy of it. Just this one schoolyard insult however merging with all of these repressed feelings that Dame has brought back with him allows the ticking time bomb version of Adonis to return in just that split second. Once Adonis gets in his face, Dame doesn’t flinch (“Oh, you mad? Try spending half your life in a cell watching somebody else live your life. You turned your back on me homie”). To further incense Adonis without getting boisterous, he touches Adonis’s suit while commenting how he’s just getting started and he’s coming for it all. To really put the feather in the cap, he refers to the veteran of the ring as “Little brother”, minimizing his entire career to show how he still sees Adonis as a punk kid. Adonis questions if he’s actually threatening him, so Dame drops him to a knee with a punch. It’s legitimately a shocking moment because these guys are in public. Dame just got out of prison and is a world champion, and Adonis is a retired fighter. It just dawns on us in this moment that these are two grown men that could get in serious trouble, but that’s where Dame is at (“Ain’t no threats here, bro. Just promises homie”).

Adonis is bleeding from the eye, gets up, and just walks out in silence. It leaves him in shock, just as it does us, especially because the viewer is so used to Adonis losing his shit and attacking people for stuff like that. Even so, just as this scene explains the cracked mindset Dame is in and how this twisted bastard planned on this and was welcoming a fight with his former friend, it also shows where Adonis is at. At first, he was about to turn this into something, but once he was punched, he came back to his senses. Either he fights his friend on this beach where one of his boys could shoot him, or he leaves before someone really does get hurt, thinking of his family this time around. He promised Bianca he wasn’t going to take a fight without thinking of them first. It’s something he promised after the first fight with Viktor in Creed II. Fighting Dame and potentially getting either shot at or beat up by a group of guys would make him go back on his word to his wife and family who are too important in the character’s life now. It wouldn’t make sense for him to engage. It’s not like he’s a pussy or anything. It’s literally just a moment of reflection and being a responsible adult. He’s not the reckless kid he used to be. He can’t be. There are too many people that need him. On that beach, Adonis is able to have this moment where he looks at Dame, and everyone circling them and just decides that taking this further is not worth it because every scenario ends up badly for him and the Creed family. That’s serious growth for the Adonis character. Unfortunately, he’s still very much growing and learning every day, as we all are. Just like how Bianca foreshadowed things earlier in the film after their discussion about Amara’s fighting and how Adonis doesn’t have the outlet of fighting anymore to solve his problems, which is probably why he left Dame on that beach without retaliating because real-world consequences would follow, she again wants him to open up. Regardless of what happened with Leon, Adonis needs to talk about this with his wife because she cares for him. She doesn’t know what else to say to him anymore to make him feel better.

It’s on him to take that leap, but it’s just one of those things. As a man, there are some memories we’d rather bury, so Adonis angrily responding, “I don’t want to talk about anything! I’ve been trying to forget it! It’s dead! Leave it! LEAVE it! Let it lie! I’m not talking about that shit no more” says a lot about how much this affected him and how we can relate. It’s been hanging over his head his entire life, and he thought it was never going to come up. Now that Dame is here, Adonis is at risk of losing it all, along with the pride he was worked three movies to satisfy.

Jonathan Majors is remarkable as “Diamond Dame” Damian Anderson. The brooding presence he has and the uneasiness he gives the viewer by just owning the scene and reacting is tremendously done. There is just something about Majors in the role that is unsettling and staggeringly intimidating, without having to raise his voice at all. You find your own heart beating in his earlier interactions with Adonis coming straight out of prison because there is this unpredictable aura about him. It’s the envy, the jealously of what he sees as Adonis taking the life that should have been his had he not stepped in all those years ago to save Adonis from a situation Adonis caused. HE was the boxer before Adonis was, HE was the one talking about fighting in Africa, but Adonis accomplished the goal, and he looks at the wall in Adonis’s house that consists of all his title belts and he’s thinking to himself, “That could have been me. No, that should have been me”. Dame doesn’t reveal his intentions outright, but this devious plotting is something felt through the screen because of Majors’s commanding performance. Fully internalizing the character and becoming him outright, there is a wickedness in his smiling gaze, where he alludes to his true self and feelings over the matter and dangles it like a carrot in front of Adonis and the viewer before pulling back. It’s just enough to garner sympathy from the protagonist so he can use him to get what he wants and feels that he deserves. It’s hard to blame the anger too. It’s not like Clubber Lang in that Dame is just some former prisoner. No, Adonis considered him a brother at one point in his life. Even if they were involved in some shady stuff, Dame was like his older mentor, and he did look out for Adonis in those flashback sequences. He even stepped in and threatened to kill people over Adonis to save his life. When the going got tough and the cops showed up though, Dame got caught and Adonis never talked to him again. Dame isn’t just some angry bad guy like before.

He was a young man with promise and goals of becoming a boxing great. He influenced Adonis to do it. Then, he rotted in prison for Adonis, while Adonis lived the life he was supposed to live. Look, we know Dame is still the villain of this story, but it’s hard not to share that resentment he has when you put on his shoes for a day. This is why when they reveal what actually happened in that flashback in full, we can see why Adonis is bending over backwards to help his long last friend. Truth be told, Dame is arguably the best written and performed antagonist of the series. He might not have the fanfare of Carl Weathers as Apollo Creed or have the look as memorable as Mr. T’s Clubber Lang or Dolph Lundgren’s Ivan Drago, but Majors’s calm intimidation and unstable personality ready to show his true colors is some of the best acting of anyone outside of Stallone and Jordan. The actor is a force on the screen and is truly an outstanding talent. If his personal life didn’t have its issues, the sky would be the limit for Jonathan Majors.

Not to be outdone, Michael B. Jordan is yet again extraordinary in the title role. From the action scenes to the handling of the dramatic heft of the narrative, and his internalized reaction and outward expressions, he once again nails every aspect of this character. It’s obvious how deeply he cares for the Adonis Creed character, which is why you can’t help but love the work Jordan has been putting out lately. If anyone had to carry the mantle of continuing this saga, audiences are lucky to have such a dedicated professional leading the pack. He’s one of the best action heroes going today. At the same time, he doesn’t miss out on being a stirring dramatic actor, with Creed III giving plenty of opportunities for him to do so as the character ages. As time moves on and we get older, heartbreak follows. With each subsequent sequel, Rocky Balboa experienced death and was the only left standing from the original film by the time Creed came along. Just like how it was Adonis Creed’s time to take over the series, it’s also his turn to experience the trial and tribulations of life. As difficult as it’s already been to get this far as a professional and as a husband and father, watching Mary Anne go was a heart-wrenching scene. Necessary from a narrative standpoint and because they have done everything that they could have with her, this was the next step in evolving Adonis Creed to see if he can overcome real-life tragedy in the midst of fighting. He helped Rocky get over cancer in Creed, he dealt with fatherhood after getting the ass beating of a lifetime in Creed II, but now, he’s experiencing the death of someone close to him. It hurts even more that he never got to apologize to her since the last argument they had was him blaming her for everything Dame did, but the scene in the hospital wouldn’t hit nearly as hard without it. The weight of a lifetime of guilt crashes on top of his head, but it’s also such a serene ending to Mary Anne’s character arc, as her deliriousness while dealing with her stroke has her talking aloud blindly as if she’s speaking to Apollo himself, “I was so angry when you left me Apollo. Why did you leave me alone? Adonis, that’s his name”.

Fighting back tears, Adonis tries to wake her out of it by responding, “I’m right here”, but she continues in her trance-like state. She comments, ‘HE saved me Apollo. He helped me to forgive you”. Adonis trying to apologize and pleading with her to tell him what to do could bring a tear to your eye. Though you very rarely here this for the third film in a series or ninth film in a franchise, Jordan should have been in the conversation for an Oscar nomination. He didn’t even have to make the ballot per say, but he should have gotten buzz for it at the very least. He’s that good. In the lead role of a mainstream film, it’s legitimately one of the best performances of the year. When you contrast Jordan with the equally spectacular menace of Jonathan Majors, the acting alone carries Creed III into the conversation for one of the best movies of the year. It’s why the First Take scene made the movie, as it was a perfect encapsulation of the weight both actors and their characters carry and why they seem like equals, though also the antithesis of the other in a battle of good versus evil. Nobody likes Stephen A. Smith and First Take hasn’t been good in a decade, but even I have to admit how cool of a cinematic moment it was to see Adonis Creed announce his return to boxing to challenge Dame on the show to add to the realism of it all, with Dame calling the show live to talk trash to him and doubling down on what Smith reiterates (“I’m just telling everybody how you really are and how you run out on family”). To Adonis’s credit, he tries to be the “new” Adonis and tells Dame how this isn’t the way to handle it, but Dame doesn’t care. He calls him a coward, a fraud, and how everyone knows it. Then, he carves even deeper by saying Apollo would be ashamed. Well, Bianca, he tried it your way. Now, Adonis has to do it his way, challenging him right there for the world title, leading to them both saying, “Run it!”. It’s awesome. It’s just a damn shame Sylvester Stallone couldn’t chop it up with both of them though. That still hurts.

As much praise as Creed III deserves, there are two key elements that bother me. First of all, it’s just way too early in the series for Adonis Creed to retire as a boxer. Playing this card this early, assuming Michael B. Jordan is still in it for the long haul, is not a good idea from a narrative perspective because it lessens the potential for in-ring action and could put the writers in a situation where they run out of ideas on how to bring him back into the ring. Though Rocky teased retirement three times by Rocky III, it wasn’t official because Clubber Lang forced him to rescind it almost seconds after saying it during his statue ceremony. Even if Rocky retired at the end of the movie, he was still the champ in Rocky IV and took the Drago fight out of necessity because of Apollo’s death. In future Creed sequels, there’s only a limited number of things you can do from a story perspective without copying what Rocky did previously, so Adonis retiring from the ring for three years and then returning to fight an old Dame makes the future murky. In a hypothetical Creed IV, would he continue as world champion and just play things out until someone takes the titles off of him? Is it Adonis trying to make his in-ring comeback an entire run rather than a one-off return against Dame? It’s just harder to buy because even though Jordan will be in shape and everything, the events of Creed III take place three years after he retired. That’s a huge stretch of time. On top of that, you have the confusion of everyone calling him old despite only being 36, and he has a very low 26-1 record. That’s like half of a boxing career. From a character perspective and cinematic boxing character perspective, this is nowhere near enough to separate Adonis from Apollo’s legacy. It sure as hell is way too early to be treating him like he’s on the level of Rocky either, as he just hasn’t earned it yet. Yet, Stephen A. Smith on First Take refers to Adonis as one of the greatest of all time. This is a major stretch even for the viewer because Creed III is the first movie we see the protagonist without Rocky Balboa in his corner, so it feels like we were just getting started with this story. Now, he’s already retired, one of the greatest ever, and apparently has “nothing else to prove”? I don’t buy that. The story is great, the new characters introduced are wonderful, where Bianca is headed is interesting, but the one major fault is not just keeping Adonis at the top of his game when Dame comes out of prison.

Granted, if he beat Adonis initially for the title to warrant a rematch it would be way too much like Rocky III, but there are ways around it to make it all interesting. It’s just that having the Adonis character have this big of a layoff limits options for future sequels when Adonis should be taking on mammoth challengers with each movie while Jordan is still physically in his prime. When it’s time for the series to wind down, that’s when you bring this storytelling element into it and play off Adonis’s struggle with aging and such. They try to do it here, but we’re just not buying it. The second key element is the loss of Rocky Balboa. I’m not saying Creed III didn’t succeed without him, but it would have been even better with him. Plus, it’s just the right thing to do. It’s a real prick move to take the franchise away from Sylvester Stallone, but it’s another thing to have him removed from the story entirely. He may have played a part because he didn’t like the darker avenues the series was headed in with this backstory involving Adonis and Dame, but I find it hard to believe they couldn’t have smoothed things over with Stallone because of how much he means to the fans and why we got to 2023 with this saga he started in 1976. It’s a real middle finger that was unfair to him regardless of how his role would have changed the screenplay. You’re lying to yourself if the drama and depth of the narrative wouldn’t have been magnified with Rocky being there and seeing the obvious similarities Dame has with Clubber Lang. Even if it was for one pivotal scene where Adonis goes to see Rocky in Vancouver, or Rocky visits Adonis in Los Angeles or something, they really missed a chance on having Stallone’s magnetic and heartfelt presence add to the tension and drama onscreen while detailing how he’s seen a fighter like Dame before. He could talk about Dame being this new, erratic, vicious challenger with a chip on his shoulder and serious focus in hurting his opponent before mentioning how similar it is to the wake-up call he got with Clubber Lang when Rocky was at his most comfortable in life.

Following this, he could comment how despite Dame being older, it doesn’t mean he’s a chump because he clearly has something to prove. He sees the eye of the tiger in him. Then, he could note how he doesn’t see it anymore in Adonis, which could prompt the classic “Adonis Creed” response of flipping out on Rocky. Personally, Rocky being there for the whole movie like in the first two Creed movies would have been preferred because it’s the right thing to do, but if we just got one dramatic scene between the two like this, it would’ve been perfectly acceptable. It’s just that we know as massive Rocky fans how there was a lot of inspiration drawn from Clubber Lang in molding Dame Anderson, from his personality to his background, and to how he goes about things alone. If you remember in Rocky III, Lang’s training sequences were all Lang by himself, and he’s just angrily working out for the fight. This minimalist, no-nonsense attitude and focus is continued through the heart of Dame, as he works out in his apartment and contrasts Felix “El Guerrero” Chavez’s entrance with his walking out by himself. There is no one with him, and he doesn’t even have a robe on. He just goes out for the kill, all business. This is why it would have been awesome in the purpose of fan service for Rocky to reiterate the danger this poses for Adonis’s personal benefit. It took Creed II to a whole other level with Ivan Drago’s reemergence and Rocky calling back to what he’s experienced, so Rocky giving Adonis this warning and how these types of fighters will do anything to win would be a great setup for when we see all of Dame’s dirty tactics in the ring with Felix.

So, yeah. No matter how big or small the part, Stallone should have been there.

The training montage is yet again well done. It’s not as good as Creed II‘s, but the montage is different this time around because they have to tell more of a story, as the focus is showing the difficulties Adonis is dealing with in returning to the ring. They list all of the injuries he’s sustained over the years to start, talk about how they can’t hide Adonis’s flaws, but how they will make them strengths, and how important it is to be in the present. It’s not about the past with Dame nor the future of what could happen after. It’s about the right now, and it adds a lot of intensity to the workouts, as they highlight how his body isn’t used to the punishment anymore and it takes him awhile in his training camp to get back to where he was. He spars with Terence Crawford and Viktor Drago and is getting whooped, and they’re trying to encourage him. By the way, it’s crazy seeing the full turn Viktor has made after the second film. At the same time, Dame’s training exudes confidence, focus, and dominance, and it does a great job at making the viewer nervous. This man is out for blood. Whether he’s destroying someone in a sparring session, holding a public workout and lifting heavy, lifting tires on the beach, or responding “I see you” to a mirror while Adonis is somewhere else looking into a mirror asking “Where is he?”, it’s all well done in building the “Battle of Los Angeles” as the main event worthy matchup that it is. The chef’s kiss was Adonis jogging to the top of Hollywood Hills and yelling like Rocky did to the mountains in Russia in Rocky IV before yelling, “DRAGOOO!”.

The 1950s western symbolism of the white hat and black hat telling the audience who the hero and villain are respectively, are brought back in an ultra-cool way for the climax at Dodgers Stadium, with Adonis wearing white trunks and Dame wearing black. I loved it, and I loved how this was the first time they didn’t go through the warmup in the locker room before the entrance. Adonis is just reiterating Rocky’s words to himself while shadow boxing (“One step, one punch, one round at a time”) and heads out to fireworks and a Big Sean song completely focused, as it’s gotten this personal. They don’t want any extra stuff to waste time. It’s like as soon as they get there, these two are ready to wage war, and the tension could be cut with a knife. The fight itself does not disappoint from Adonis refusing to be intimidated, to Dame fighting dirty, to Dame’s extreme confidence despite his lack of experience (“I know what I’m doing. Don’t worry about me. All that money can’t save him. Believe that.”), to the trash talk in-between rounds to express how this is the most personal fight that Adonis has ever been in, to the showcase of Dame’s ever-present skills not backing down to someone who is supposed to be an all-time great, to the unique moment where they sit across from each other in their corners at the end of a round and don’t see anyone but each other. The crowd is blacked out for a minute, and Dame looks across and sees the young kid Adonis used to be and vice versa, implying that’s who they are seeing in the ring. Admittedly on my first watch, I didn’t like the anime-inspired one-on-one sequence where they just go at it and everything around them is ignored, but I appreciated it much more on a second watch. The genius in it is that they use it to time jump rounds to show how they have this trance-life focus on each other and don’t care about anyone else in the stadium. Once they come out of it, it’s already Round 11. It’s actually a really unique way to show how locked in they are on each other. When Dame’s hitting his power punches against the ropes, he sees that prison cell. Meanwhile, Adonis sees his group home when he’s connecting.

It might be a bit fantastical for a boxing film, but it’s a creative swing worth taking to make this fight unique. Literally nothing else matters in that moment for the two besides each other and everything they been through, and that’s when it hit me as to why this was an incredibly badass moment.

All in all, Creed III is another outstanding addition to the overall saga and manages to maintain the splendid quality of the first two Creed movies, a seemingly impossible task. Despite riskier ideas and new creative storytelling avenues that the film attempts to go down for the first time in nine movies, Michael B. Jordan controls the production from behind and in front of the camera to ensure that it works and only excites worldwide audiences for what’s next. Along with a marvelous Jonathan Majors, and the boxing action being just as intense and gripping as before, Creed III extends the series superbly and lifts it to thrilling new heights.