What exactly are we looking at when we go to see Creed III ? This is in theory a series of spin-off films from the Rocky saga , a character who was also present in the first two films and is now not even named (there is a quarrel between Stallone and the series producer, now he is only as a producer). In practice, the first film was a clumsy imitation of Rocky that did not capture the spirit and the second a much more focused film that closed the story of Ivan Drago very well, truly creating another narrative arc in the style of Rocky's world of stories, that is, one in which physical effort coincides with an authentic personal purification of the spirit and the resolution of the most intimate conflicts. Both had Sylvester Stallone (writer and later director of the original saga) on the screenplay.
Now Creed III is yet another thing coming from a whole different creative team . It is a story that uses details, elements and narrative devices forcefully taken from different films in the saga, stitching them together without developing them in a way that makes them work, all for the benefit of the story of a man who overcomes awe for someone who was important for him. Anyone who knows Rocky 's films will therefore recognize details and twists and turns that belong to the series, but it's easy to predict that he probably won't experience the sensations associated with those films. Why Creed IIIit is not the story of a confrontation with oneself through training and effort, that is, the story of a body that is bent to success by the determination of an iron will. If anything, it is the story of a person who has everything and must solve even the last problems . Which has nothing to do with Rocky .
Michael B. Jordan
Michael B. Jordan himself is directing , the actor who from the beginning plays Adonis Creed, son of Apollo and trained in the past by Rocky to become a champion. His direction is very weak, he doesn't know how to sink when he has to (for example in the crucial moment of training) and when he tries to become independent and create something of his own he proves to be naive and a little ridiculous (as in the allegorical ending in computer graphics) . Only minimally saving the film is the fact that this story of friendship turned to enmity , success corrupting people, and resentment from the past is if nothing else fully African-American, that is, it is the story of thecontrast between improving one's condition and at the same time remaining tied to humble origins that are difficult to manage in order not to lose one's identity . However, faced with this oversimplification, it is laughable.
For Adonis, the man from the past is a personal and psychological burden to carry around and which he will solve by punching him in the ring . Only after beating him up will he be available to talk and resolve any conflict with bruises and lots of love. Which is the reduction to zero of Rocky's personal dynamics; in which enemies in the ring have often become friends but through much more complicated paths and not as a direct consequence of the punches taken. In between then Creed III also stuffs a sketchy story of Adonis' deaf daughter, a conflict of Adonis' wife between career and life which is only mentioned and it's not clear what economy she has in the story, and finally a subplotof the dying Adonis' mother who seems more suitable for a soap opera , in which stories can be continually fed that will continue in the following episodes one bite at a time, more than for a film which must instead show compactness.
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