Thursday, 6 December 2018

Creed II - The scoop and digest

Unable to juggle Black Panther commitments, Ryan Coogler steps aside for Steven Caple Jr. to direct.

A big risk, considering guy at helm only has one film (The Land) under his belt.

Michael B. Jordan - Adonis
Sylvester Stallone - Rocky
Tessa Thompson - Bianca
Phylicia Rashad - Mary Anne Creed
Dolph Lundgren - Ivan Drago
Florian Munteanu - Viktor Drago

Summary

Three years after losing on points to 'Pretty' Ricky Conlon, Adonis becomes heavyweight champion by easily defeating Danny 'Stuntman' Wheeler.

Ivan Drago and man mountain son Viktor travel to Philly and challenge Adonis.

Weak

Donnie says 'shit' several times, and in regards to sequel's quality, I'm inclined to agree.

Emotional drama is really boring and largely a remake of Rocky III.

Atmosphere during 10 round spectacle should be jumping, but nobody told audience that.

Apart from Viktor's disqualification in first fight, nothing surprises.

Here's some series callbacks.

Rocky - Viktor pummelling Adonis' midsection leads to broken ribs.
Rocky II - marriage proposal, baby and Adonus insisting 'I'm dangerous'.
Rocky III - defeat and rematch, Viktor's brutal Clubber Lang-esque style and Rocky's 'Go for it'.
Rocky IV - aside from the obvious, fight is clearly stylised on slow-motion transparency and during which, commentators make a point of Adonis cutting Viktor, paralleling Rocky hurting father.  Finally, partisan crowd cheers when Adonis wins.
Rocky V - Buddy Marcelle's promoter is similar to George Washington Duke

Much is made of Rocky not 'throwing in the towel' to save Apollo's life.

Guess what?

Drago does just that to protect Viktor.

We never saw that coming.

Peculiar rap during desert training montage inserts lyrics of Gonna Fly Now.

Hmmm.

Adonis recovers from another knockdown in climatic round and for absolutely no fucking reason, ref asks Adonis his name.

"Creed."

Question is repeated, but this time, hero roars "CREED!"

Rocky theme plays and guess what happens next?

(Shakes head).

Goofs

Drago and Rocky haven't shared the same ring in 30 years.

Remarkable.

Considering Rocky IV was released and more importantly set throughout 1985, any decent mathematician will arrive at 33 years.

At the beginning of first fight's final round, sportscaster calls Viktor 'Ivan Drago'.

Ha ha ha!

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