Hey what's going on everyone?! Dan here and today I'll be reviewing Creed 3!

Now I do want to say one thing, I love the Rocky franchise, in turn I enjoy the Creed franchise. I grew up watching the Rocky movies with my dad and he loved Rocky 1-4, we'd watch Rocky 4 specifically together a lot and meme on Drago a lot when he was alive. We both loved boxing as well, I still do to this very day. The Rocky franchise holds a special place in my heart and we were both excited for the Creed movies release back in 2015, but unfortunately he passed away months before it released so he didn't get to experience the successor of the Rocky franchise with me.

I do think the Creed movies hold up well on their own, I loved Creed and especially Creed 2. Creed 3 I was a little apprehensive about it, especially when I heard Sly himself was going to be taking a step back from the production and giving Michael B Jordan himself pretty much full control of the film settling with Co-producing. However, I then learned that the main reason he stepped back was because of the direction of the film. I didn't like the direction it was going and apparently had some major beef for a long time with Producer Irwin Winkler for the way he's been handling the Rocky franchise. Sly stated after Creed 2 he was retiring his role as Rocky and he meant it since Rocky is no where in this film. This meant that this is solely focusing on Adonis's story, Rocky plays no part in this what so ever. Fans (including myself) were obviously nervous about this film not having Rocky since he is the main character of this entire franchise. Although, I feel this is the right direction especially when you have Michael B Jordan directing, he's the face of this franchise and the fact that the Creed franchise is its own thing now. Rockys story is done, now this is Adonis's time. So the questions are, Can Michael B Jordan Direct a good film? can he live up to Rocky Franchise while also establishing the Creed franchise as its own? Can he flesh out Adonis our main protagonist and his story?

Now the plot itself isn't bad, in fact it's giving us more backstory and lore on Adonis's early life from his childhood. The plot revolves around Adonis being retired from boxing for a couple years and being successful in his retirement helping train/promote the next generation of fighters. During this time, his old friend Damian gets released from jail and is trying to start up his boxing career despite being older than Adonis, even aiming for a title fight. Adonis manages to get him a title shot with one of his champions. Dame beats the champion but in a disrespectful way with cheap shots and being full on vicious without remorse. This upsets Adonis and eventually comes to the conclusion that he needs to come out of retirement and beat Dame in the ring himself.

Now the plot is very much the same guidelines as Rocky movie, follows almost the same formula which isn't a bad thing but shows that the Creed franchise hasn't quite become its own identity yet. It is still arising from the shadows of the Rocky franchise at a slow pace which is fine, if they make another movie in the Creed franchise then they would have to make a big push to stand on its own but as of now it's fine. I will say, Michael B Jordan did give this movie his own personal touch. Jordan himself is an anime fan which is cool because I noticed a lot of anime references such as Naruto and DBZ which is awesome.

I also want to note as a boxing fan, a lot of things that happen in the Rocky and Creed movies boxing scenes would not happen in a real professional boxing match. I do understand that a lot of the fights are greatly exaggerated for the sake of drama in these movies so this is more of a nitpick from a boxing fan.

The cast did a great job with their performances as the characters in Creed 3. Michael B Jordan did a phenomenal job as Adonis Creed once again fleshing out the raw emotions of the character just as he did in the first two films. I feel this his best performance in the Creed franchise since we saw the character mature and showing his strong emotions when dealing with his past along with guilt, shame and his love for his family. I'll admit there was some over the top overacting at times but it was very little so it's forgivable. Tessa Thompson, while I may not like her presence outside of her acting career, she did a good job as Bianca. Her character does a great job of being the support system for Adonis helping him cope with his issues. Mila Davis-Kent did a phenomenal job as Adonis's daughter, Amara. I do like the inclusion of sign language in this film, I think it's cool when we can include different languages like Spanish or sign language in a film or show. Jonathan Majors is on a real good villain streaks lately with the third Antman movie and third Creed movie, guess the number three is his lucky number. His role as Dame is pretty good though I do wish they just made Dame an unapologetic villain, not on the level of Jack Horner per say, but just let him be evil without giving him a redemption ending or sad backstory. They set him up as being someone who will do anything to get what he wants, literally sabotaging others plans to further his own goals. But in the end its kind of tainted by him being a sad sack, jut let him be evil man. Lastly, I wanna give a shoutout to Phylicia Rashad for her role as Mary Anne. Without her, Adonis wouldn't have that strong foundation of love and trust that helps him let others in and it is especially sad when her character passed in this film since she was a major character in the Creed franchise. It reminded me of Mickeys death in Rocky 3, he was a major character in Rockys life and in the first three films and to lose him was a real gut punch for us all. I felt that it should have been Mary Annes voice that motivated Adonis to beat Dame in the end rather than Bianca but it's fine I guess.

Overall, I felt that Michael B Jordan did an excellent job directing this film and continuing the story of Adonis Creed. I don't think the franchise is quite able to stand on its own two feet just yet, but I will say that it is slowly coming out of Rockys shadow and if they do one more Creed film, they gotta make a big push to establish the franchise as its own. I had fun watching this film and while I may have some nitpicks here and there, I felt this was well done.

Rating this film I'd give it:

8/10

I recommend giving this film a watch along with the other Creed movies as well as the Rocky movies (the 5th and 6th movies are optional honestly). I look forward to Michael B Jordans hand in directing in the future as well as Jonathan Majors acting in his next projects. That's all I have to say, for now I bid y'all a doo.

See ya!