Creed (2015) * *

Directed by:  Ryan Coogler

Starring:  Michael B. Jordan, Sylvester Stallone, Phylicia Rashad, Tessa Thompson, Tony Bellew, Graham McTavish

Creed reminds me of the plot of Rocky V (1990), in which Rocky laments the presence of a self-serving promoter trying any means necessary to lure Rocky back into the ring for one last fight.    Creed feels like one more attempt to have Rocky Balboa appear on movie screens yet again.    Why?   Rocky Balboa (2006) was pretty good, even though the climactic fight between 60ish Balboa and a heavyweight champion 30 years his junior was implausible at best.     The film tied up loose ends pretty nicely, so why drag Rocky out again?    Creed never fully answers the question.    It is serviceable, but Adonis Johnson (Jordan) is the surrogate Rocky.    The now-70ish Rocky can not plausibly step into the ring again, so Adonis does it for him.    Is there anything about Creed that convinces me that it needed to be made?    No.

The "Creed" of the title is Adonis, the illegitimate son of the late Apollo Creed, whose head was crushed by Ivan Drago in Rocky IV back in 1985.    This would make Adonis roughly 31, which is hardly a spring chicken in the fight game.    For those who don't know, Apollo was Rocky's opponent in the first two Rocky films.    They split the first two fights, which led to a private third fight at the end of Rocky III between the two in which the winner was never revealed.     It is here and I wouldn't dream of telling you who won.  

Adonis' life starts out as an orphan in a series of juvenile halls, but is soon adopted by Creed's widow Marianne (Rashad).    She raises him in comfort and wealth, but like his father he is attracted to boxing.    He fights in Mexico and then leaves a cushy corporate job to travel to Philly and seek out Rocky, who still runs his South Philly restaurant Adrian's and visits his deceased wife's grave and his best friend Paulie's grave almost weekly.    If you consider how much Paulie drank, it shocked me he lived as long as he did.  

Adonis convinces Rocky to train him, which Rocky does despite his advancing age and declining health.    It is refreshing to Sylvester Stallone is playing his age.    He reminds us that he still possesses the power and raw acting he displayed in the original Rocky.    In recent years, Stallone has been involved in vain action films which tried to distract from the fact that he is pushing 70.     It is honest to see him cop to his age and play it accordingly.     Jordan is an appealing actor who does what he can, but is his character interesting enough to carry a film without Rocky at his side?    His relationship with his neighbor Bianca (Thompson), a fledgling singer,  contains little sizzle.    It does not possess the awkward sweetness of Rocky courting Adrian.     Adonis himself is a man living personally and professionally in his father's shadow.    Rocky tells Adonis of his son's relocation to Vancouver to escape his father's shadow.    This provides context as to why Rocky agrees to train Adonis and sets up a quasi-father/son relationship.   

Creed, like all of the Rocky films, ends with a Big Fight.   In this case, Adonis' opponent is light-heavyweight champion "Pretty Boy" Ricky Conlan (Bellew), whose physique reminds me of the pot-bellied Damon Wayans in The Great White Hype.   ("I'm in shape.   I'm round.")   Bellew talks trash, but he is not the imposing physical presence of an Apollo Creed, Clubber Lang, or Ivan Drago, which detracts from the fight's credibility.    There is a back story of Conlan soon having to relinquish his title to serve a seven-year prison sentence, but this is unnecessary exposition.

It is difficult to justify why Creed needed to be made except to make a few more bucks for the Rocky franchise.    The ending of the film promises an eighth installment, but we have seen all of this before.   The training sequences which play like music videos (remember those?), the fights which do not at all resemble real boxing matches, and the usual trainer/fighter blowup and eventual reconciliation are all here.     There are echoes of scenes from Rocky II involving chasing a runaway chicken and running through the streets of Philly with admirers following not too far behind.    Most of Creed reminds you of things that were done better in previous Rocky films.