Creed

Director: Ryan Coogler
Writers: Ryan Coogler, Aaron Covington
Stars: Michael B. Jordan, Sylvester Stallone, Tessa Thompson
Strengths: Acting, Story
Weakness: Long runtime
Runtime: 133 minutes
Rating: 4/5

Plot: The former World Heavyweight Champion Rocky Balboa serves as a trainer and mentor to Adonis Johnson, the son of his late friend and former rival Apollo Creed.

Review: Adonis — Donny to his buds — came up out of foster homes, a chip firmly ensconced on his shoulder. It's Apollo's widow (Phylicia Rashad), forgiving her husband's infidelity, who saves the boy from the system and takes him into her lush Los Angeles home. But Donny stays a troublemaker, taking fights in Mexico to work out the rage inside. From the minute Donny decides his dad's old friend Rocky is the only guy who can train him, he's off to Philadelphia, where Rocky runs a restaurant named Adrian's, after his late wife. What ensues is Adonis's journey to boxing stardom with Rocky showing him the ropes and making sense of his life.

"Creed" is the first of the Rocky films that Stallone didn't write. This one was written and directed by relative newcomer Ryan Coogler and you would be forgiven to be a skeptical. After all, who is he to tell Stallone how Rocky should behave? But here's the thing though: Coogler is a massive Rocky fan and has watched it from the very beginning, making his version a sort of love letter to the series rather than a correction. It's easy to feel Coogler's affection for the material in every frame.

One need not be proficient in "Rocky" lore to appreciate "Creed," but for those who have followed the exploits of Sylvester Stallone's Philadelphia boxer, Ryan Coogler's latest entry pays unexpectedly rich emotional dividends. "Creed" is so reminiscent of the 1976 film that introduced us to Rocky Balboa that I get the sense that newcomers will fall for "Creed"'s characters in much the same way viewers fell for "Rocky"'s 40 years ago. Though 2006's "Rocky Balboa" was a fitting final chapter for its titular hero, "Creed" finds more of his story to explore.

Reviewed by Intisab Shahriyar