After the outstanding success of Michael B. Jordan’s Creed II, Creed III approaches a new entry
into the storyline with the following retirement of Adonis Creed with a successful career. With
the prided legacy of Rocky and a new addition of Creed in 2015, the surrounding question prior
to the movie’s release was, how do you add on to a preexisting line of movies that have
successfully passed the torch from one generation to another? Creed III leads in the absence of
Sylvester Stallone as Adonis Creed looks to follow his mentor Rocky in teaching the younger
generation.
This movie leads with the built-up feelings over nearly two decades after a life-altering event left
Damian in prison for nearly twenty years. Adonis and Damian lead a completely separate path
until their reunion. Creed bears guilt for how their childhood separated but decided to give him a
chance. Realizing the nature behind Damian’s intent in boxing, Adonis sees the possible trouble
Damian will bring after he beats heavyweight champion Felix in a way that displays dirty boxing
under Creed’s name.
Caught up by the past, Creed faces his biggest challenge as someone he once looked up to
take advantage of the opportunities presented in front of him after leaving prison. Damian began
to turn on Creed for his lifestyle and wanted to take everything. After a beautiful
performance of a fight between the two, it comes down to letting go of the past and welcoming
the present future.
This movie showed a beautiful concept of expressing the emotional ties between the past,
current, and future generations of fighters. This movie had beautifully executed visuals that
followed a tensional build-up to the 12th round of the Creed v. Anderson fight. The boxers stood
alone in an empty stadium, seeing the younger versions of one another, fighting out their long-
held feelings toward one another. Creed’s third installment in the series provided great context
to the early life story of Adonis. This movie is not supposed to be about Rocky, but instead, the
passing of the torch as father time will wait for no one. Stallone left the series at the end of
Creed II but matched the pace of a long successful career coming to an end. With the reference
to Apollo in Felix’s downfall during Andersons’ first match, Creed saw himself in the shoes of his
teacher Rocky. From teaching students and coming out of retirement to protect his name from
the past, Michael B. Jordan did an outstanding job directing his first movie in a series of legacy
movies for many around the world.
Jonathan Majors seeing his second big release within the past couple of months, after the
release of Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania has played his second villain role in 2023. With the release of these movies, Majors has shown that he is well suited to play a villain role and performed
spectacularly in this role. In combination with Kang the Conqueror, I think Majors will have a
very successful movie presence within the next decade.
Creed III set up the potential for the fourth and fifth movies, with super high expectations
surrounding its release, Creed III did a fantastic job in cinematography that lead to
unpredictable turns including old enemies turning into friends. For a first-time production by
Michael B. Jordan himself considering the popularity surrounding the series, Jordan executed a
fantastic job that kept the audience’s attention focused on the screen while on the edge of their
seats.
Especially for a directorial debut, this is an outstanding movie. A very misunderstood concept explored in this movie is the true nature of hardships some characters go through on their journey to success. Everyone starts on a different plate, but in the end, all want the same goal.
Rating: 9.4/10
Photo Credit/MGM
