"Yo Adrienne!"
In Creed 2 as Rocky Sylvester Stallone has what could be a very telling and prophetic line. He says something to the effect of "maybe I'm something from the past trying to be something in present." While critiquing "Creed 2" that quote kept coming back to haunt me.
But I was determined to force myself to be objective and judge this film on its own merits, not necessarily how it fits into the this generation's Creed series and the Rocky lore over all.
Much like the first Creed this film walks a fine line of balance between recounting the glorious Rocky past while moving forward forging today's generation and the future. This episode has Creed fighting Drago's son in a grudge match that harkens back to the tragic fight where Drago Sr. killed Creed's dad. Before I get into that I must point out that in 33 years Dolph Lungren still hasnt learned to act. He is just a stiff monotone and ridiculous as he was back in 1985 when he originated the role of the original cold war era "Russian Bot." And if I dont pan any other aspect of this movie I must mock screenwriter Stallone's update of the line that made Drago famous "My son will break him." That made me say out loud " are you kidding me.?" I must also say that Florian Munteanu is just as stiff, grunting and totally ridiculous as Dolph Lungren ever was in his portrayal of his son Viktor Drago. He is excellent in his fight scenes but he is one of the most awful "actors" I've seen in a while. Thank God he barely has 2 pages of actual dialogue in the entire film. And the fact that most of it is in Russian doesnt help.
Sadly the much of dialogue in this film leaves a lot to be desired. It's as though Stallone wrote the dialogue all from Rocky's point of view. Love him or hate him I'm sure no one would characterize Rocky Balboa as a great orator. But let's get real here I'm pretty sure the audience doesnt expect Shakespearean dialogue in this series. They expect great fight sequences and some human drama both in and outside of the ring. The fight sequences do not disappoint here. Like the story they are a bit predictable and of course larger than life. But they are very well choreographed and the use of sound editing and slow motion effects are very well executed here. Micheal B Jordan gives a skillful performance as Creed. Stallone makes an effort to flesh out Creed's character a bit more out of the ring mostly through an emotional subplot revolving around his family. How the subplot will effect each viewer depends on how emotionally invested that particular viewer is in Creed himself. Jordan does good work with what he is given but there are a few scenes where Stallone's script veers way off into melodrama. Jordan pours his heart and soul into those scenes but IMO they are too far over the top. But again this is a part of the Rocky universe so larger than life is the order of the day.
My biggest complaint against this film would center around the musical production values. The producers try very hard to differentiate this film from the Rocky series in this manner. They use a lot of contemporary type Hip Hop genre music full of some relatively hardcore lyrics that IMO fail to strike an emotional chord and narrate the action sufficiently. I wont apologize for saying that THIS FILM SERIES NEEDS A NEW SCORE OF ITS OWN. Of course it wont ever compare to Academy Award winning composer Bill Conti's original Rocky Theme or his academy award nominated song "Gonna Fly Now." But still the new Creed Series needs a score of its own.
All this being said Creed 2 is a solid entry into the Creed series. And there are some pleasant surprises at the film's dramatic and satisfying conclusion. So I would recommend it.
