‘Creed III’ packs a punch

Creed III review

Photo courtesy of POPSUGAR

Photo courtesy of POPSUGAR

Dean Carlson, Executive Online Editor

The best boxer we all know and love, Creed, is finally shown again in the newest installment of the Rocky franchise: “Creed III.” 

Released on March 3, “Creed III” presents as a really good movie due to its ability to emotionally connect the audience to the past and present of what is happening to Creed and his old relationships

Despite not watching the previous Creed or Rocky films, I never found myself in a position where I was confused about the context of the movie.

In the beginning of the movie, we are shown a young Adonis Creed with his best friend Damian Anderson. Fast forward to the grown versions of themselves, we are taken to a scene where they are grabbing lunch, discussing the future of Anderson. Given Anderson’s homelessness and unemployment, the pair agree to transform Damian back into a boxing prodigy. 

It is through this that the movie shows us ties from Adonis and his past and what exactly happened.

Due to this emotional connection that the audience gets throughout the movie, we are shown the bond of Creed and Anderson that makes the end of the movie very worthwhile.

Without spoiling much, the ending of this movie is very good. However, it did seem a bit rushed. For example, Anderson has a successful “point” that awards him much success. But supposedly makes him a “really” good boxer despite only having fought one match well past his prime. During this part of the movie, I wondered, “I know Adonis trained him, but this is a guy who fought his last match like 30 years ago, how can he have numerous belts now and be an actual contender to Creed himself?”

I also believe that at some points in the movie, it seemed forced. For example, when the two main actors argue on the beach, all of the lines seem forced just to increase the momentum of the movie. When Adonis hunts down Anderson for his connections with Creeds’ enemies, they have a major conflict. This is the first fight between the two main characters that ultimately makes them enemies due to Anderson landing a punch, both literal and metaphorically, on Creed. Creed then chooses to be a bigger man and decides to walk away where later in the movie, he eventually challenges Anderson to a fight where the winner becomes the king of boxing. 

It was during this scene, where I thought to myself that Creed would know something would go down by confronting Anderson. However, he does this while Damian is at a party where everyone is celebrating his success. Although Creed is clearly outnumbered he still makes his move on Anderson, which ultimately made the scene seem forced.

However, it was actually soul touching when we got to see where these two main actors started and where life takes them in the movie, seeing them become almost brothers when they were younger to come together as a full circle at the end of the movie.

Despite the negatives in the movie of being rushed and forced at moments, the movie does pertain to be a worthwhile movie that would keep all ages engaged. This said, I highly recommend buying some tickets to see this action packed movie that all would enjoy.