I'll start first by saying that I had a lot of fun seeing a premiere screening of Creed 3. The score, cinematography, and acting of Jonathan Majors and Mila Davis-Kent deserve recognition and praise.
The movie follows the journey of Adonis hanging up his gloves for retirement to spend time with his family and promote the fighters of his gym. However, he is forced to get back in the ring after unfinished business from the past in the form of childhood friend Damian Anderson comes back for what's his.
Despite some strong sequences from Adonis's past and the setup of Damien coming back to take the crown, the story falls short on the promise of its themes and the main characters.
The main themes are healthily processing emotions, communication, and fighting when it's necessary.
Adonis believes in fighting as the answer to problems while Bianca wants him to embrace communication and processing his emotions. In the end, it seems like Adonis embraces the higher ground, but he throws it away at the slightest provocation from Damien. He defends his pride rather than his beliefs in the end and takes the high ground only after the battle is over.
Damien's character comes off as justified for his actions, and despite a few moments of playing dirty and some unwarranted taunts, he never feels like the villain.
Aside from this breakdown of story, there was inexplicable decisions made with supporting characters. Many received way more screen time than seemed warranted, and Amara and Bianca's characters suffered as a result.
Amara's story arc got completely dropped, and Bianca, after making a compelling argument for communication and processing emotion, just rides along with Adonis's decision after his pride was poked by Damien.
(Spoiler) *It would have been interesting if Adonis offered a full apology when he was live with Stephen A Smith and Damien threw that apology back at Adonis. Instead we got Adonis not wanting to talk on live television and opting for a fight when provoked.* (Spoiler)
The film followed in the footsteps of Rocky sequels (in it's own way) and had many enjoyable sequences. However, it could have used some more work on the script level to have it hit on all levels.
The movie follows the journey of Adonis hanging up his gloves for retirement to spend time with his family and promote the fighters of his gym. However, he is forced to get back in the ring after unfinished business from the past in the form of childhood friend Damian Anderson comes back for what's his.
Despite some strong sequences from Adonis's past and the setup of Damien coming back to take the crown, the story falls short on the promise of its themes and the main characters.
The main themes are healthily processing emotions, communication, and fighting when it's necessary.
Adonis believes in fighting as the answer to problems while Bianca wants him to embrace communication and processing his emotions. In the end, it seems like Adonis embraces the higher ground, but he throws it away at the slightest provocation from Damien. He defends his pride rather than his beliefs in the end and takes the high ground only after the battle is over.
Damien's character comes off as justified for his actions, and despite a few moments of playing dirty and some unwarranted taunts, he never feels like the villain.
Aside from this breakdown of story, there was inexplicable decisions made with supporting characters. Many received way more screen time than seemed warranted, and Amara and Bianca's characters suffered as a result.
Amara's story arc got completely dropped, and Bianca, after making a compelling argument for communication and processing emotion, just rides along with Adonis's decision after his pride was poked by Damien.
(Spoiler) *It would have been interesting if Adonis offered a full apology when he was live with Stephen A Smith and Damien threw that apology back at Adonis. Instead we got Adonis not wanting to talk on live television and opting for a fight when provoked.* (Spoiler)
The film followed in the footsteps of Rocky sequels (in it's own way) and had many enjoyable sequences. However, it could have used some more work on the script level to have it hit on all levels.