Review: Creed III

Like a lot of film genres, boxing movies are predictable, and their predictability is a big part of their pleasure. We know going in there's going to be a final fight, and the hero is going to go into that fight as the underdog. That's a story that's easy to tell when a fighter is starting out, or when they're well past their peak. But Creed III starts with Adonis Creed (Michael B Jordan, who also directs) retiring at the height of his powers. What could possibly bring him so low?

Enter Damien "Dame" Anderson (Jonathan Majors), who was a promising Golden Globes boxer and Creed's big brother in all but blood growing up. Fresh out of jail for a crime he... okay, he did commit, but it was hardly a crime (and Creed deserves a slice of the blame), he shows up not long after Creed's hung up his gloves, looking for - well, it's hard to be sure exactly what at first, but whatever it is, he's not waiting around.

Creed is initially wary of his former friend, sensing that prison may have changed him in ways he can't easily fix. But how can Creed deny a friend who has nothing when he has everything - including wife Bianca (Tessa Thompson), deaf daughter Amara (Mila Davis-Kent), and his tough love mother (Phylicia Rashad) just recovering from a stroke (uh oh).

Dame's pain is real, and the film works hard to keep him from being a simplistic villain, even when he reveals just how far he's willing to go to get a title shot against Creed's protege Felix (Jose Benavidez). Majors gives a great performance as a man empty inside, still driven by dreams he had twenty years ago coupled with anger towards the man he feels stole "his" life - not that he would have any idea what to do with it if he took it back.

(meanwhile, it's easy to forget that being defeated in this series doesn't equal death - thankfully the return of Viktor Drago (Florian Munteanu) doesn't quite segue into the kind of "enemies into family" move the Fast & Furious movies specialise in)

With Rocky finally banished from this spin-off (his name is mentioned exactly once), Creed is fully his own man. Legacy is always going to be a factor here - the question this time is, what kind of lessons are he teaching his daughter? Jordan spends much of the film playing Creed as often unsure of himself outside the ring, worried that he might be a man who tries to solve everything with his fists.

Which of course he does! This is a boxing movie after all, and Jordan (as director) brings plenty of style and flair to the fights, giving a fresh spin on the kind of pummelings the genre demands. He's not bad when it comes to selling the story's subtler emotions too, and if the final act occasionally feels a little rushed, well, we all know where we're going so why delay the pleasures of twin training montages?

When it comes to delivering genre thrills, Creed III really knows the ropes, powered by a pair of knockout performances that pack the kind of punch that'll leave you flat on the canvas. Sometimes these reviews just write themselves.

- Anthony Morris