CREED III - Review
“You borrow from the greats, and you make your own path without losing the core of who you are. ”
Michael B. Jordan’s Directoral Debut:
What a huge deal this is!
Let’s first be clear on the role of a director. A director is a person who controls the film’s artistic and dramatic aspects and visualizes the script while guiding the film crew and actors towards fulfillment of that vision. The director essentially creatively leads the film from pre-production to the final edit.
This means that Michael spent quite a bit of time with the script as the actor, with the script as the director and with the script while visualizing how he wanted that scene to play out and what he wanted the audience to feel. Honestly this type of intimacy with a script and then a final product takes so much time and energy and effort and it’s truly what a screenwriter like me dreams of having a great like Michael B. Jordan director do.
I always talk about the work ethic when it comes to Michael B. Jordan and now’s no different. There is nothing that this man cannot do because he is willing to put genuine hard-work into anything he sets his mind to forgoing all temporary joys to get there. That type of discipline, seemingly, can’t be taught these days and it’s largely how I’ve lived my life up until this point.
For this to be MBJ’s directorial debut, there’s no way that you won’t leave the theater feeling like he, at a minimum. visually did an insane job! There’s so much about this film that you can feel and that’s a huge testiment to his eye and the passion behind his craft.
Let’s Get Into past predictions:
In my post on Creed II I predicted that Creed III would:
See Rocky taking a step away from the ring to spend more time with his immediate family
See Bianca’s music career take off leaving Bianca and Donnie to navigate that new territory and all that comes with being a woman in the music industry
See upcoming difficulty with Donnie’s career and Bianca’s career taking off with Donnie dealing with being newer parents
Overall Movie Review:
The movie was another knock out! Honestly, the bigger theme within the Rocky movies and the Creed trilogy has always been the relationships!
Creed III is the story of a long lost friendship with a ton of conversations that needed to be had but that weren’t. When Damien “Dame” Anderson is finally released from jail, he’s determined to make up for lost time by revisiting the past and trying to take what he feels is rightfully his. The return of Damien, however, comes with a lot of repressed feelings as we get to watch Adonis “Donnie/Hollywood” Creed battle something we haven’t seen him fight yet — his past and the anger attached to his past.
Throughout this emotion-filled movie, we get to see so many moving parts played out by the relationships that we’ve watched grow over the years. Donnie and Damien both battle the past and feelings of jealousy, anger, guilt and abandonment which leads to the ultimate battle. Bianca pushes Donnie into more emotional intelligence and communication of various emotions and reactions which leads to their biggest bout. All parties battle loss and get gains prior to the ultimate fight!
Overall, this movie truly feels like that moment when you realize that the people that you’ve been watching for years are all grown up now! Donnie and Bianca have grown so much and gone through so much over the years and this movie, once again, puts their strong bond to the test!
I also have to note that this movie features Mila Davis-Kent who starts as Amara Creed, the daughter of Donnie and Bianca. The way that the family (including Phylicia Rashad’s character Mary Anne Creed) learned and comfortably use sign language is so beautiful — not just for the film but for advancement in ASL in motion pictures in general!
The Music:
Creed movies (and Rocky movies) have always given us great music. I still listen to both of the Creed soundtracks while working out, but!
For starters, any Coogler piece these days gives us insanely unique sounds that we associate with their films. These sounds tell us exactly what’s coming while also leaving us wondering! Similar to Black Panther and Wakanda Forever when the Dora Milaje were kicking butt and taking names and we heard the beautifully placed “tuu” sounds, Creed III gave us a sound and I truly have to say that it was perfect and perfectly placed within this film!
Apart from that, we get amazing unreleased music from various artists that was also perfectly placed throughout the film.
I bet you’ll be Shazaming it on your way out of the theater.
Can we talk about the glow-up!
This film takes place after Adonis has spent years dominating the boxing world, all while Bianca was killing it in the music industry before stepping down from performing to produce other artists. The couple are truly prospering and their beautiful, sprawling and unique LA home (and Donnie’s car) show nothing but the affluence that they’ve enjoyed over the years. And to think, all of this started in Philly in an apartment building where you could easily be kept up at night by your neighbor’s loud music.
I love that this was shown on screen and I love how subtle it was not!
The goal with any relationship where the participants are actively working towards success is always to get to the point where you can live that way and always have the run-down apartment (for example) to look back on. I love that the film subtly gave us that moment and that piece of reality because it’s so real!
I also want to note the subtle pieces that were added that MBJ enjoys in real life: like relaxing indoors instead of being out on the scene, cigars (even though they only showed them shortly), and meditation/reflection. It was great to see pieces of the man behind the character within the character’s development and I love the way that MBJ has shaped Donnie over the years. He’s truly allowed for Donnie to have and show authentic growth!
Creed II Review:
I don’t have to tell you to run and see this movie because I know that you’re already on your way! Be prepared for a beautifully wild ride of hard-work, ambition and leaving it all in the ring in Creed III.
Best,
Bree (@brianna_jay)
