CAPSULE: Creed (2015, Dir. Ryan Coogler)

For a very, very long time I didn't place myself in the demographic that Sly Stallone's Rocky franchise was *insert boxing reference* to/at.

As you can see, I know next to nothing about boxing. When I finally saw John G. Avildsen's film on a tiny airline screen somewhere above the Pacific, I was floored. Not floored enough to continue on with the series, mind you, but enough to admit I was wrong to stay away.

Enough to give Ryan Coogler's franchise-shifting, Creed, the time of day.

So I come to Coogler's film, not as drenched in the franchise's lore as the director and his co-writer Aaron Covington would be expecting. But wet enough to recognise the nostalgia hits they're aiming for in their tale of Adonis (illegitimate son of Balboa's erstwhile opponent, Apollo Creed). And let me admit, in the interest of full disclosure, that Michael B. Jordan's Adonis is an Adonis and that was probably the tipper in getting me into the theatre where previous sequels (even Stallone's form finding 2006 outing, Rocky Balboa, could not).

I enjoyed. It doesn't have the depth of Avildsen's original but it's a serviceable boxing flick with some virtuoso camerawork in the ring. Jordan's a talent and it is good to see Stallone back doing what he does best, even if he's not overly well served by the film's screenplay. He definitely has some big scenes to come.

If there are trips, it is Coogler's tendency towards the predicable. As with Fruitvale Station, which was undone by unnecessary foreshadowing, Creed is dot to dot film making. As scenes opened my inner monologue would run through like cinematic predictive text. Loud music - he's heading downstairs and he's going to meet a love interest or a neighbour with ambitions to be a DJ (turns out Tessa Thompson's Bianca is both, well she's an aspiring neo-trip-hop vocalist at least). Fight scene - he's going to fall flat on his face in this one so he can set up a meteoric rise. Even after Coogler's clever premising, formula remains king.

The problem with that is in the shift of the world around the franchise. Surely in this day and age these ludicrous pairings of heavyweight champions and unknowns (famous lineage aside) could not happen. A little more recognition of this and boxing's big business bureaucracy would have gone a long way to making this a more satisfying outing.

Maybe they'll leave that for the sequels fixture. There will be many lined up and I reckon Jordon's got the legs for it.

Let's see if he can make it to Creed VII.

★★★

Trailer: