Adonis Creed had just won the WBC World Heavyweight Championship and proposed marriage to his girlfriend, Bianca Taylor. He received a challenge from a young Russian fighter, Viktor Drago, who just so happened to be the son of Ivan Drago, the former Soviet boxer who killed his father, Apollo Creed, in the ring thirty-three years ago. To Donnie's dismay, his coach Rocky Balboa did not think that it was a great idea to accept the fight.
Like the first movie of this Rocky reboot (MY REVIEW), this sequel is also a very well-shot film. Because of his schedule conflicts with "Black Panther," Ryan Coogler turned over the directorial reins to Steven Caple, Jr., in only his second full-length film, his first for a major company. Coogler still stayed on board as executive producer of this film, even as Michael B. Jordan still stayed on as the lead actor in both projects.
Technical-wise this was a solid film. The cinematography was artistically done, with some pretty dramatic camera angles (the pool training scene, the lying down on the floor scene, among others) and energetic film and sound editing of the boxing scenes (you can feel those rib-cracking punches yourself). The musical soundtrack also sounded so good, complementing the scenes they accompany very well. It was exhilarating and nostalgic to hear the original Rocky fanfare at one climactic moment.
Michael B. Jordan played Donnie Creed with all his character's athleticism, determination, vindictiveness and helplessness. His scenes with little Amara were pretty touching as this young actor is really very good in drama. Sylvester Stallone continued to play Rocky Balboa with heart, wisdom and compassion. Tessa Thompson had strong screen presence as Donnie's beloved Bianca. Phylicia Rashad (as step-mom Mary Anne) and Wood Harris (as trainer Tony "Little Duke" Evers) gave understated supporting performances.
On the Russian side, Dolph Lundgren maintains that cold menacing presence as Ivan Drago, the same character he played in 1985 in the film "Rocky IV." The huge and imposing Romanian boxer Florian Munteanu played the formidable challenger Viktor Drago, on whom Ivan channeled his desire for retribution. The icy, platinum blonde amazon Brigitte Nielsen reprised her role as Ludmilla, Ivan's ex-wife and Viktor's estranged mother in a couple of chilly scenes, but so heavy on the emotion.
The only problem I felt while I was watching was the very predictable story. It was very obvious from the trailer alone. Well, sports movies usually follow the same formula -- a challenge is issued and accepted, hero loses the first match, hero trains to get back up, hero wins the final game. This one followed that formula to the letter, no surprises at all. Fortunately, the actors was able to infuse the necessary emotional heft to uplift it from being stale. I did like the little family drama about hearing impairment, which I thought was a unique touch. 7/10.
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