Creed Review

Chrystal and I sat down and watched this movie last night and were blown away.   I don't want to over-hype this movie,  but after 6 prior Rocky movies I wasn't sure what to expect.   I've enjoyed following "The Italian Stallion" throughout the movies, but by the 6th one I was beginning to feel his career had a good run.  Then they release the movie "Creed" (7th movie featuring Rocky Balboa) which has Sylvester Stallone taking the coach role that Mickey was to him in earlier movies to help train up Apollo Creed's son into serious boxing.  Sounded like it had potential so last night I saw if it was worth the watch and it didn't disappoint at all.  Michael B. Jordan was perfectly cast and delivered a wonderful performance as the troubled youth who is trying to prove himself apart from Apollo Creed's name even though he is his son.   Sly Stallone returns for one of the best movies in his career in my opinion.  He certainly proves he is not just an action star, he has amazing talent as an actor with a lot of range.   Here is what we liked about Creed.

1.  Great performances all around.  Like mentioned before the entire cast turned in a wonderful effort to make such a powerful movie.

2. Great references to the prior movie, without making you feel like you've seen this all before.  I enjoyed the earlier Rocky movies and this one doesn't ignore them.  However, I never felt like I was seeing another Rocky movie that had been repackaged.

3.  Excellent character driven script that draws you in to care about the characters.  Movies that do this seem to be getting more and more rare.  It was refreshing to see that some movies can really pull you in and make you care about the people in the story.

4.  Encouraging ending to a great story - not going to give away the ending but it was very appropriate and encouraging.  I almost wanted to re-watch the movie again it was that satisfying.

Very few movies that are number 7 in the series get this high of a review in my vote.  Furious 7 was great,  but not as good.  Star Wars VII was very good but still not as well put-together as Creed in my opinion.   I heard Sylvester Stallone almost won an Oscar for his performance in Creed.  After watching it,  I can definitely see why.  His chemistry with the other characters was exceptional.   This is actually a reboot movie that comes across almost as good as the original that came out in the 70s.  Why can't Hollywood produce more movies like this one?  I was amazed how so many other movies seem weak and shallow compared to the substance of Creed.  It wasn't a perfect movie,  but I would say it was my favorite movie of 2015 that I have seen.   Two thumbs up and 5 stars out of 5 for Creed.    I hope many movies learn from this one.