Michael B. Jordan returns as Adonis Creed for this third instalment in the Rocky spin-off series, this time taking on directing duties as well. Adonis has retired after becoming the undisputed heavyweight champion. He is a successful promoter and has a contented private life with his wife Bianca (Tessa Thompson) and daughter, Amara (Mila Davis-Kent). When childhood friend and former boxing prodigy Damian (Jonathan Majors) appears, after serving a long sentence in prison, he is eager to prove that he deserves his shot in the ring. Adonis wants to help him, but does not know that Damian is harbouring a grudge.
Three fights, one at the start, one in the middle an the inevitable Apollo v Damian showdown at the end prop up this movie. With real boxers Tony Bellew and Canelo Alvarez appearing in two of those, they feel realistic as well as brutal. There is a stylistic misstep in the last fight but it does reach a satisfying conclusion.
In between the bouts, and, of course, the obligatory training montage, we get to see the complicated relationship between the two boxers. That was pretty interesting but Apollo’s relationship with his family, frankly, was not. In fact, there was a perfect end to the film when Apollo and Damian meet backstage after their fight, but we then get an unnecessary final scene with Apollo’s family.
With the George Foreman biopic due soon, there seems to be no end to boxing movies and I would not be surprised if there is more to come in this franchise.
Rating: 6.5 out of 10