“Creed” hits theaters nationwide Wednesday, and it’s pretty awesome. The actors are all giving it their A-game, the story is emotional and well-told and the action is great. It does more than enough to justify its own existence outside of being a spinoff to the “Rocky” franchise.
But as people rush out to see it over the next few weeks and critics simultaneously praise it while speculating about Oscar contention (Sylvester Stallone gives a performance worthy of a Best Supporting Actor nomination), don’t be surprised if this question starts popping up: Does “Creed” deserve to be its own multi-film franchise?
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The answer should by obvious — absolutely — but not just because it’s a good boxing movie. “Creed” should have more installments because the people who made it (Ryan Coogler directed and co-wrote the screenplay) understood what made the original “Rocky” a classic and what makes for a great sports movie in general.
Truly great sports films have to be about more than just athletic competition, and the original “Rocky” is a prime example. Yes, it’s about a boxer and the climax is a boxing match. But the story isn’t about boxing; it’s about people. We see Rocky and Adrian form a relationship that serves as a pillar for the rest of the franchise. We see Mickey and Rocky become friends through training.
And most importantly, we see a man find a way to prove his worth to a world that had cast him into the gutter. Remember, Rocky’s goal in the first fight with Apollo wasn’t to beat him, but to just go the distance against the best fighter in the world. If you go back and watch that final scene, you’ll notice you can barely hear the announcer declare Apollo the winner; the full focus is on Adrian and Rocky embracing.
Unfortunately, the sequels quickly forgot to focus on the characters and just beefed up the fights.
“Rocky II” tells a decent story about Apollo’s obsession with getting a rematch and Rocky finding the mental fortitude to fight again, but the movie was blatantly advertised as being the rematch fans wanted to see.
"Rocky III" doesn’t even feel like it’s in the same universe as the first two with insane characters like Mr. T’s Clubber Lang and Hulk Hogan’s Thunderlips.
“Rocky IV” is a Reagan-era propaganda piece.
And “Rocky V” is . . . garbage.
But when “Rocky Balboa” rolled around in 2006, the franchise started to find its way back to its roots. In the first five films, Rocky felt like a complete person when he was with Adrian. But when she dies, he has to find a new purpose in his life by reconnecting with his son and getting back in the ring one last time.
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“Creed” takes this a step further. Like Rocky before him, Michael B. Jordan’s Adonis Creed is trying to find his place in the world while escaping from the shadow of his legendary father (who was never even around to raise him). And along the way he falls in love with singer Bianca (Tessa Thompson) and develops a tremendous friendship with an aging Rocky as his trainer. And because you invested in these three-dimensional characters and watched them grow as the movie progresses, you’ll be left wanting to see what happens to them next once the credits roll.
Now to be fair, some fans prefer Rockys II-IV because of the fights. But “Creed” delivers on this front, too. Each fight (yes, there’s more than one) is excellently choreographed and shot. It even goes so far as to address one of the biggest complaints about some of the fights from the original series (punches clearly not connecting) by having the camera focus on every impactful strike and the injuries they leave behind.
We live in a world where franchises are the lifeblood of Hollywood blockbusters (“The Avengers,” “Terminator,” “Jurassic Park,” “Fast and Furious,” “Mission Impossible,” “The Hunger Games” and James Bond all had new installments in 2015 alone) and “Creed” deserves to become one. And if the filmmakers continue to write great stories with well-rounded characters, it could cement its legacy as the next great sports movie franchise.