‘Creed III’ Review: Jonathan Majors Lights Up Michael B. Jordan’s Directorial Debut
The third film in the Creed sub-franchise is notable for several reasons. Not only does Creed III mark Michael B. Jordan‘s directorial debut, but it’s also the first film in the entire Rocky/Creed saga to not even mention Rocky Balboa, let alone feature Sylvester Stallone as the iconic character.
For better or worse, Balboa’s presence is not missed in the story, with Jordan’s Adonis Creed fully taking the reins of the franchise now, in what will hopefully become another long-running, mid-budget saga. Creed III is an excellent time at the movies this weekend, mostly because of the characters we’re now attached to — it feels great to check in with Adonis and Bianca to see how they are doing every few years, and from what we can gather, Jordan and Tessa Thompson are also having a blast doing it.
The story of the threequel, arranged by Ryan Coogler, Keenan Coogler, and Zach Baylin, and scripted by the last two, is focused once again on what it means to grow up a Black man in the United States these days. Adonis, who spent some time locked away in his youth, is now a highly successful, expensive-suit-wearing former boxer and gym owner, married to Thompson’s Bianca, a highly successful former singer and current record player producer; they both are parents to young Amara (Phylicia Rashad), who was born deaf, inheriting her mother’s hearing disorder. She was introduced in Creed II and plays a larger role here. Everything seems to have finally settled for the Creed family, who enjoy their evenings playing around with the little one and trying to convince Adonis’ mother to come live with them. That is until Jonathan Majors’ Dame shows up to put Adonis’ life upside down. The two of them share a painful past that ended with Dame locked up in prison and Adonis escaping; now, the former is coming back for what he is owed.
Michael B. Jordan stars as Adonis Creed in CREED III. A Metro Goldwyn Mayer Pictures film
Photo credit: Eli Ade
© 2023 Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures Inc. All Rights Reserved. CREED is a trademark of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Jordan is undoubtedly one of the most talented people in Hollywood right now, and stepping behind the camera was a great call on his side. Creed III feels very inventive, and its directing style is definitely unique within the franchise (it never reaches the level of Coogler’s work in the first movie, but that’s nothing to be ashamed of). However, Jordan’s behind-the-camera efforts might have distracted him from delivering the best performance he could, as this is probably the weakest of his across all three movies (even though a Michael B. Jordan mediocre performance is still above most actors’ in Hollywood). Thankfully, though, Thompson and especially Majors stepped up to make Creed III a memorable theatrical experience.
This was probably Thompson’s best work in all three films, and it was probably the most amount of time we’ve spent with her character. We see her being an amazing mother and a great partner to Adonis, but sadly, the script didn’t allow her to materialize that great performance into a character arc. That was more of Majors’ task; the actor is the absolute best part of the film. It is practically impossible for us to get our eyes off of him whenever he’s on the screen — his performance as Damian Anderson is truly magnetic and almost makes us want to side with him in the movie. His only character fault is that he’s too anxious to earn back the time he was taken away, which causes him to be extra violent in key moments — and even that is justified, and while we don’t root for him when he uses that extra step of violence, we definitely want him to get it looked after so he can be the best version of himself.
Jonathan Majors stars as Damian Anderson in director Michael B. Jordan’s CREED III. A Metro Goldwyn Mayer Pictures film
Photo credit: Eli Ade
© 2023 Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures Inc. All Rights Reserved. CREED is a trademark of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Much like Coogler knocked us out with the way he directed that initial one-shot fight in the first Creed, we are introduced to the way Jordan films his fight sequences early on in the film, and it involves heavy inspiration from anime, with extreme close-ups of the characters, cutting right away to their opponent’s weak spot, all of it in slow motion. For the final match, he also pulled up some tricks that made an otherwise standard match quite interesting, at least in the way it looked.
However, Jordan never lost focus on the heart and soul of the movie, which is the Creed family. Young Amara steals the show in every scene she’s in, and her relationship with Adonis is truly heartwarming. The script clearly sets up future stories with her, which will hopefully be realized through subsequent Creed films. Checking back on these characters almost felt like meeting up with people we haven’t seen since the pandemic — something that brings good memories and that you also hope happens every so often from now on, because you just like spending time with them.
(l-r.) Michael B. Jordan stars as Adonis Creed, Mila Kent as Amara and Tessa Thompson as Bianca in CREED III. A Metro Goldwyn Mayer Pictures film
Photo credit: Eli Ade
© 2023 Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures Inc. All Rights Reserved. CREED is a trademark of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc. All Rights Reserved.
In the end, Creed III is a mostly paint-by-numbers story, but that’s not what we’re here for. We are here because of the characters, which deliver; the training sequences, which are good but have been much better; and the boxing fights, which are pretty good but have also been better in the past. Did I miss Rocky? Not particularly. But that also might be because I am a Rocky fan who didn’t grow up with the movies — these three movies, however, have been a bigger part of my movie-going life.
Creed III is currently playing in theaters.
Miguel Fernández is a Spanish student that has movies as his second passion in life. His favorite movie of all time is The Lord of the Rings, but he is also a huge Star Wars fan. However, fantasy movies are not his only cup of tea, as authors like Scorsese, Fincher, Kubrick or Hitchcock have been an obsession for him since he started to understand the language of filmmaking. He is that guy who will watch a black and white movie, just because it is in black and white.
