SMR 211: Creed II

2 Comments

1. 

   SANDLERAGONY

   12/06/2018 at 6:52 PM

   Gotta give Steven Caple Jr credit for maintaining most of Ryan Coogler’s vision for the Creed franchise. After walking out of this movie, I realized how much better these films are than the Rocky films. Creed II could’ve fell into the unintentional parody that befell the Rocky character in later years, but it never does. Every character is given development, growth & time in each scene. I wasn’t a fan of Rocky IV, not just because Apollo Creed got knocked out & sucked the soul out of that movie, but because Ivan Drago was never an interesting character that lacked the humanity of other Rocky/Creed antagonists. Dude had a handful of lines from that movie tha are memes. Cheo Coker & Sly did a great job of writing this movie to add to the solid direction. The acting from Michael B. Jordan, Tessa Thompson, Slyvester Stallone, Phylicia Rashad, Dolph Lundgren & Florian Munteanu, who plays Victor Drago. They were all great. However, for me, I felt something was missing with the fights. I did enjoy them, but I felt they lacked the cinematography & direction of the first movie. The arena atmosphere didn’t feel authentic like the original Creed. Otherwise, what’s here is still great.

   Log in to Reply
2. 

   ClassicRandBLover

   12/02/2018 at 3:22 PM

   Hi Rod and Karen,

   I loved Creed and I loved your review of it. You hit all the points that for me, marked the completion (for me) of both the Rocky and the Creed narrative. Adonis growing into his manhood and becoming a person outside of his father. Adonis’s mom finally coming to his fight, remember she always refused to attend his matches. Rocky connecting with his family and getting the redemption he needed to work past his guilt and self-loathing as a result of Apollo ‘s death. The revisiting of the Drago saga and seeing Ivan’s redemption when he realized he spent so much time raising and training his son for vengeance that his son would have rather die in the ring than give up and disappoint his father. I started crying when Ivan threw in the towel and told Victor it was okay as Victor was pushing him away. Ivan had finally worked past his demons to realize his son needed a father, not a trainer.

   Regarding Widows, let me clarify because sometimes written words can’t convey your thought fully without you literally writing your every thought. I agree that Viola Davis’s Veronica was awful and didn’t have an issue with the slap. When I referenced the subtle issues of racism, I meant the fact that because of the optics Alice had to say “From anybody” after she said “From you” because she’s watching the reaction of this black woman (and the filmmaker knows there are black people watching this moment), so the “anybody” had to follow in a way it most likely would not have followed had Veronica been white. Liam Neeson’s racism which Veronica referenced after their son died and at the end was in some ways a mirror image of what black people often feel—knowing that something happened solely because you are black and being unable to obtain justice because there is always a reason that allows others to deny racism. No imagine this happening to a white man, whose whiteness has always been there as an anchor. I can see his inability to keep his son alive through the sheer force of his whiteness easily morphing into an anger that you can only deal with by running away from black people whose very skin, whose very existence reminds you of your pain.

   Log in to Reply