“The higher you get the harder it gets. That’s life. It’s a war. It’s a fight. It’s a battle”
About 1/3 of the way through Creed III, the titular hero Adonis Creed (Michael B. Jordan) catches up with a childhood friend named Damian Anderson (Jonathan Majors). Before the movie tips its hand narratively it’s already clear that Adonis and Damian are going to go at least a few rounds before this story ends. It may even be accurate to say that this diner sequence is as intense as any scene that takes place in the boxing ring. The two estranged friends never come to blows but every word out of their mouth, every gesture and facial tick has a river of meaning surging beneath it. Each one of them is sizing up their opponent before we ever know they’re destined to take each other on in the ring.
The film opens with a little of the history these two young men share. We meet Dame at the height of his teenage boxing prowess. A promising future on the horizon for someone who may otherwise have been swallowed by Los Angeles’ criminal underbelly. But a mistake of youth gets Dame arrested and sent to prison for eighteen years. Fresh out of his time behind bars, Damian has set his sights on reclaiming the life and career he believes mistakenly wound up in Adonis’ lap. Wracked with confusion and guilt at Dame’s scorched earth approach to getting back what he feels he lost, Adonis’ greatest challenge in this film isn’t felling a particular opponent but reconciling with a past he hoped he could simply bury and forget about.
It’s an intriguing path for this film to take narratively because the entire Creed series has heretofore had to address the past in the form of the film series that spawned it. When Ryan Coogler decided to make a legacy sequel to the Rocky films he ingeniously made the narrative about the very idea of trying to add to something that already has a famous legacy. “I have to prove it!” shouts Adonis in the series first film. “Prove what?” asks his trainer Rocky Balboa. Adonis replies plainly, "That I’m not a mistake.” Thankfully the first entry is one of the better boxing films ever made. Creed II works under this same formula but makes its story about two sons who must take on their father’s unfinished business.
Creed III goes further. Building the story around two characters with such long histories raises the stakes dramatically. Jonathan Majors delivers an incredible performance with Dame, working to make sure his presence is threatening but never unrelatable. For a good portion of Creed III, it isn’t even clear that the film will have a villain at all. The first Creed film took the idea of the underdog story of Rocky and switched it up. Rocky was a working-class hometown hero who had to earn every chance he got and every moment of respite. Adonis was the son of Apollo Creed and grew up wealthy and comfortable. His fight for being recognized is like Rocky’s, it’s as if he had to begin digging the tunnel from the other side of the mountain. Creed III accentuates that idea by having Adonis, now retired from boxing with all the gold and glory earned during his impressive career, now pitted against an actual underdog. A thirty-year-old ex-convict with no family legacy to lean on.
Jonathan Majors is an absolute movie star and his talents are on full display here. He is absolutely terrifying as Damian. Every smile he gives also implies a maelstrom of resentment. His movements in the ring are like the prowl of a panther. Every frame the man occupies is loaded with genuine danger and the result as a viewer is pure thrill. This is a man who has been to hell and back and truly has nothing left to lose. Creed III gets much of its narrative momentum from Damian’s screentime as his full plan comes into focus.
Much like Stallone’s own time with the Rocky series Michael B Jordan has finally stepped into the director’s chair alongside occupying the starring role. He’s terrific at putting a film together, clearly having learned at Coogler’s feet without completely emulating his style. Jordan’s own stylish flares come from an artist who clearly loves anime’s visual style. The fight sequences are heavily influenced by classic anime framing and staging but that style bleeds into the dialogue heavy scenes as well giving the entirety of Creed III some terrific visuals.
In all, Creed III is successful because it pits its hero against a near shattered mirror image of his own success. In Damian, Adonis sees what his life could have been like without privilege or options. At this point in Hollywood’s history, we’ve seen veritably every kind of boxing movie that could be conceived. However, through Jordan’s fresh directorial eye, some killer performances, and some truly thrilling boxing sequences, Creed III feels like something new despite being the ninth entry in this storied franchise.
