Creed III is the 9th movie in the Rocky franchise. That doesn’t even consider the dozens of boxing movies inspired by the franchise. That’s rough considering there’s pretty much two ways a boxing movie can end: win or lose. The incredible thing about this franchise is how they keep finding variants of the same thing to do. There have been underdog stories, rematches, jingoism, mentoring, coping with legacy, getting out of shadows, redemption, and more. Every time I think they are out of new things to say in the franchise, they prove me wrong. So, unlike a lot of other new installments, I went into Creed III pretty sure they would find a new thing to say. The only question was what that would be.
If I was to classify Creed III in the franchise, it’s the one about the sins of the past coming to disrupt the present. The film starts with Adonis (Michael B. Jordan) retired from boxing after reaching the pinnacle of the sport. He hasn’t quite figured out his next step, but he’s fine with being a father and managing other boxers for now. Then one day, a figure from his past shows up. His old friend Dame (Jonathan Majors) has just been released from prison. Dame knew Adonis back when they were living in a group home. Dame was actually the one destined for boxing greatness with Adonis as his sidekick. One night, Adonis got a lucky break that Dame didn’t which sent him away for a long time. Now he’s ready to pick up where he left off, including righting wrongs that he believes were done to him.
It's a compelling idea: seeing what Adonis could’ve been had things broken the wrong way. Jonathan Majors steps into this with all the charisma that Jordan did back in Black Panther. He’s the right mix of proper motivation and wrong tactics. Majors plays with the chip on his shoulder well. Jordan plays Adonis with the weight of the world on him well. At the end of the day, a boxing movie needs a hero you can root for and an enemy who is his equal. Creed III succeeds on both accounts.
I do think the movie struggles to pick a lane when it comes to Dame though. At times, he’s perfectly reasonable in his motivations. At other times, he’s an evil mastermind. The entire section between Dame’s two fights doesn’t fit with the performance on either side of the fights. In particular, there’s a scene right after his first fight that feels like it was added just to remove all doubt that Adonis is the hero of this movie. I wish the character that Dame is after the climactic fight was the one we got for the whole movie. I think I might be in the minority about this. Majors is such a good actor that he cleans up any holes in the writing of that character arc.
As a first-time director, Jordan does well. Previous installments have built a template for him to work from. He tries a few new things though. While not perfectly executed, I like the idea of how he passes the middle rounds of the climactic fight without the need for a montage. I don’t know that this convinces me that I need to see what else he has in him as a director. This feels much more like him taking over his franchise fully. However, I remain committed to whatever he wants to do next. And, whenever Jordan wants to get jacked and put the gloves on again, I’ll be ready to enjoy it.
Verdict: Weakly Recommend
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