Creed (2015) Critics Review
Please watch Creed (2015) by Ryan Coogler. Then, read the critic written by Odie Henderson on RogerEbert.com uploaded, and discuss it in your own response to the film. You may agree or disagree with the review. This paper should NOT be a review of the film. It is your reaction toward the critic written by Odie Henderson. You should demonstrate originality, rigor and deep insight. You should NOT have other sources besides from RogerEbert.com written by Odie Henderson.The response should be 500-750 words. Variety critic link: https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/creed-2015
3/27/2016 Creed Movie Review & Film Summary (2015) | Roger Ebert
http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/creed-2015 1/4
In Memoriam 1942 – 2013 | ★ ★ ★ ★
CREED (2015)
Cast
Michael B. Jordan as Adonis Creed , Sylvester Stallone as Rocky
Balboa , Graham McTavish as Tommy Holiday , Tessa Thompson as
Bianca , Phylicia Rashād as Mary Anne Creed , Hans Marrero as Flores ,
Tony Bellew as ‘Pretty’ Ricky Conlan , Brian Anthony Wilson as James ,
Ritchie Coster as Pete Sporino , Jacob ‘Stitch’ Duran as Stitch , Malik
Bazille as Amir , Wood Harris as Tony ‘Little Duke’ Burton , Gabe
Rosado as Leo ‘The Lion’ Sporino ,
Director
Ryan Coogler,
Screenplay
Ryan Coogler, Aaron Covington,
Characters
Sylvester Stallone,
Story
Ryan Coogler,
Cinematographer
Maryse Alberti,
Editor
Claudia Castello, Michael P. Shawver,
Drama
Rated PG-13 for violence, language and some sensuality.
132 minutes
CREED
3/27/2016 Creed Movie Review & Film Summary (2015) | Roger Ebert
http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/creed-2015 2/4
| Odie Henderson
November 23, 2015 |
One need not be proficient in “Rocky” lore to appreciate “Creed,” but for those who have followed the exploits of
Sylvester Stallone’s Philadelphia boxer, Ryan Coogler’s latest film pays unexpectedly rich emotional
dividends. “Creed” is so reminiscent of the 1976 film that introduced us to Rocky Balboa that I sense newcomers
will fall for “Creed”’s characters the way viewers fell for “Rocky”’s 40 years ago. Though 2006’s “Rocky Balboa”
was a fitting final chapter for its titular hero, “Creed” finds more of his story to explore. In the process, the film
reminds us that, employed by the right director, Sylvester Stallone can be a wonderful actor.
Coogler’s story, co-written with
Aaron Covington, unabashedly
mirrors the arc of the original
“Rocky”. There’s the humble
boxer, his mentor and the woman who becomes his significant other and rock of support. There is also the
fa
mous boxer who gives our hero the boxing match chance of a lifetime. Armed with these elements, “Creed”
then tweaks them, playing on our expectations before occasionally surprising us. It may be easy to predict where
the film takes us, but that doesn’t reduce the power and enormity of the emotional responses it gets from the
audience. This is a crowd-pleaser that takes its time building its character-driven universe. There are as many
quietly effective moments as there are stand-up-and-cheer moments, and they’re all handled with skill and
dexterity on both sides of the camera.
Coogler’s direction leaves little doubt that “Creed” is writing a love letter to “Rocky” lore while also establishing
an original narrative about its own creation, Adonis Creed (Michael B. Jordan). Coogler perfectly captures his
intentions in an early conversation between Rocky and Donnie (as Adonis calls himself). Their talk is framed
with Stallone and Jordan standing in front of a picture of Rocky and Adonis’ late father, Apollo Creed. Coogler
fi
ts his actors in the shot so that the background image serves as a flashback and a flash-forward; the screen
contains Rocky’s past and Apollo’s future. Additionally, Stallone’s run-down physicality as the older version of
Rocky stands in striking contrast to the boxer posing behind him, frozen in time. We’re moving forward, but the
ghosts of the past are still coming with us.
“Creed” begins with Donnie’s past, where young, orphaned Adonis Johnson is visited in juvenile hall by Apollo
Creed’s widow, Mary Anne (a fiercely maternal Phylicia Rashad). Mary Anne adopts the young man, a product
of an affair Apollo had before he was killed in the ring by Drago in “Rocky IV”. Though Mary Anne raises him as
her own, Donnie’s resentment about being in the shadow of a famous man he never knew nor met grows as he
ages. Yet he secretly engages in his father’s sport. “Creed” shows Donnie fighting in Mexico before returning to
his office job in Los Angeles 12 hours later.
That Donnie has a white-collar job is interesting. It’s the opposite of Rocky’s blue-collar existence, and it
reminded me of a line in the boxing documentary “Champs,” where an interview subject states that “nobody
rich ever took up boxing.” Donnie has clearly benefited from the spoils of Apollo’s legacy, yet a childhood filled
with scrapes with the law and constant fisticuffs leads him to quit his successful job for one where the odds for
success are far more limited. Mary Anne points this out in an excellent speech where she details the more
unsavory aspects of living with a boxer whose body took so much punishment that he could barely perform
simple tasks like walking up stairs or cleaning himself. Donnie hears her, but the clarion call of the ring carries
him off to Philly to seek out his Dad’s former rival and best friend, Rocky Balboa.
★ ★ ★ ★
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3/27/2016 Creed Movie Review & Film Summary (2015) | Roger Ebert
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Donnie hopes that Rocky will train him, and sets out to convince the reluctant ex-boxer to do so. But Rocky is
simply not interested in becoming a mentor to the up and coming boxer who affectionately calls him “Unc”.
Rocky’s lack of interest remains even after Donnie reveals that he is Apollo Creed’s son. To bring new viewers up
to speed, Rocky talks about the fight that cost Apollo his life, and how Rocky was in Apollo’s corner at the time.
To return to the corner, even with a different boxer, is not on his list of things to do, partially out of guilt for
Ap
ollo, but mostly out of a general sense of exhaustion. “I already had my time,” he tells Donnie. Of course,
Donnie wears him down and, despite some jealousy from a coach at Rocky’s late trainer Mickey’s old gym (who
had hoped Rocky would train his son), Rocky takes on Donnie’s mentorship. This eventually leads to an offer to
fi
ght Liverpudlian boxing champ Pretty Ricky Conlan (Tony Bellew).
In parallel, Donnie also pitches woo to his downstairs neighbor Bianca (Tessa Thompson), a hearing-impaired
singer and composer whose loud music keeps Donnie from getting the required sleep he needs for his training.
Like Rocky’s beloved Adrian, Bianca is a fully fleshed out character whose agency is not undermined by her
eventual devotion to our hero. Thompson, so good in “Dear White People”, is even better here, singing her
own songs and verbally sparring with Jordan as quickly as the real-life boxers he faces throw punches at him.
Coogler relishes his love story as much as his action sequences, basking in the glow of their romance. At one
point, he employs an upside down shot of the duo, laying side by side and engaging in a quick kiss that’s chaste
yet sweetly romantic. A later romantic scene is far more passionate, and feels well-earned thanks to the prior
one.
“Creed” reminds us that, even at its most absurd, the “Rocky” series has always been about loss. Specifically, how
these losses affect the characters and how they grow from them. This is expressed in Bianca’s desire to make as
much music as possible before her hearing loss becomes total and permanent, but it’s also reflected in the
character of Rocky himself. The genesis of this film stems from the most absurd of the Rocky movies, yet “Creed”
stitches “Rocky IV” and all the other Rocky films into its narrative with surefooted grace. The method to this
madness is explained in a haunting, beautiful speech delivered by Stallone, who points out the consequences of
his losses, both personal and professional, how alone he is due to the deaths of everyone he has loved, and how
he no longer has the will to fight. Beforehand, we see Rocky visiting the graves of Adrian and Paulie (on the
latter’s tombstone, he places some booze), and the specter of Apollo’s death hangs over “Creed”. Rocky also tells
Donnie that his son has little to do with him.
Rocky’s big speech comes after a scene where he gets some bad news (which I’ll not spoil). Watch how subtly
Stallone plays his reaction—he turns the simple gesture of removing his hat into a powerful lament. Coogler
loves the faces of his actors, to the point where he shoots one boxing match as an unbroken take focusing on his
boxers’ punch-laden mugs. He also gets an achingly beautiful and subtle commentary out of brief shots of young,
brown faces looking at and admiring Donnie as he trains. Like Rocky, Donnie may be a hero for all races, but
these shots of young Black children add an extra dimension by showing us rare instances of African-American
admiration of a hero onscreen.
“Creed” is at its most effective when Coogler’s camera stands by, patiently letting his actors connect with us. He
fa
vors shots where two actors occupy the screen, taking care to calibrate the space between them. As a result, we
become intimately familiar with the lovely young visages of Jordan and Thompson, and the gloriously craggy
fa
ce of Stallone, whose once equally youthful appearance has grown and aged like the faces of those of us who
were present for his first turn as Rocky Balboa. Stallone brings us back to his first, Oscar-nominated turn as
Rocky, and his intimate knowledge of his character shines through in every frame. He is really, really good here.
“Creed” gives us a new hero, and Jordan is excellent at portraying him. The star, who worked with Coogler on
the superb “Fruitvale Station,” conveys the confusion that many young people have while forging and
accepting their identities. The moment he owns up to his heritage is intertwined with the film’s rousing,
3/27/2016 Creed Movie Review & Film Summary (2015) | Roger Ebert
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climactic boxing match but does not depend on it as a means of Donnie’s acceptance. Coogler is masterful in
these shots of sportsmanship, stirring the audience into a frenzy of excitement, and he knows exactly when to
shamelessly plug in “Gonna Fly Now.” Donnie Creed also gets his own version of Rocky’s triumphant
Philadelphia Museum stairs run scene, re-imagined here as a street jog surrounded by motorcycles. It’s
absolutely breathtaking. Note where Coogler places Stallone in this sequence, as it is the most visual
representation of what his film is doing with these characters.
Speaking of the Philadelphia Museum, “Creed” ends there with a scene guaranteed to wring a bucket of tears
fr
om fans of Rocky Balboa. I wouldn’t dream of spoiling the reasons why “Creed” ends here, nor will I say who’s
in the scene. But I will tell you this: The last shot of this film is a true thing of beauty. This is one of the best films
of 2015.
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