Photo Illustration by Thomas Levinson/The Daily Beast/MGM
Just as Sylvester Stallone seized the directorial reigns of the Rocky franchise after its Oscar-winning first entry, headliner Michael B. Jordan gets behind the camera for Creed III, a threequel in which his Adonis Creed faces off against yet another titanic foe. Whereas Stallone temporarily steered things into goofy cartoonishness, Jordan maintains the steady course charted by his two predecessors, sticking to the bedrock formula pioneered by the series for the past five decades. It’s easy to see the film’s punches coming before they’re thrown, but that doesn’t lessen their wallop when they land.
Jordan shoots Creed III relatively straight, save for an opening match in which slow-motion is cannily used to suggest heavyweight champion Adonis Creed’s (Jordan) tactical perceptiveness, and a finale that’s bogged down by an on-the-nose CGI-ified interlude marred by distracting environmental effects.
For the most part, the star/director recognizes that there’s no need to fix what isn’t broken, and his clean and economical stewardship allows the proceedings to fixate on its characters, beginning with Adonis, who, following another pugilistic triumph, opts to hang up his gloves and settle into retirement with his music superstar wife Bianca (Tessa Thompson) and their daughter Amara (Mila Davis-Kent).