After dominating the boxing world, Adonis Creed (Michael B. Jordan) has been thriving in both his career and family life. When a childhood friend and former boxing prodigy, Damian (Jonathan Majors), resurfaces after serving a long sentence in prison, he is eager to prove that he deserves his shot in the ring. The face-off between former friends is more than just a fight. To settle the score, Adonis must put his future on the line to battle Damian – a fighter who has nothing to lose.

Creed III is the third installment in the successful franchise and is Michael B. Jordan’s directorial debut.

THE GOOD

Boxing movies are always measured by how they present their fights and how believable they look. Creed 3 adds some real kinetic energy and drama to the boxing by highlighting emotion. Michael B Jordan is showing his creative side by using a new technique in each fight. Whether Adonis is narrating in his head while analyzing an opponent to transporting the fighters to a dreamlike environment to reveal their emotions to their opponents. I love that there are hints of inspiration from anime right down to the double punch in the last fight.

Jonathan Majors is a freaking problem. This man just walks in on sets, spits his lines, and walks away owning the scene. There are so many moments where he’ll just be silent and own. Jonathan Majors is a master of delivering a scene with just his facial expressions and mannerisms. Damian will often give a look and it’s the most intimidating look ever in where you can’t help but try to figure out what the heck this man is thinking. Is he chilling? Is he going to pop off? I never know and I love it. I mean it’s not like I’m rooting for the villain but, yeah, I’m freaking rooting for the villain.

There’s a lot of emotional investment in this movie. Majors’ character is presented as the antagonist but you can’t help but empathize with the dude. He went to jail for saving Creed’s lil ass when he abruptly popped off on someone. Damian didn’t get a thank you, phone call, or even a letter while he was in jail. I root for the underdogs and the comeback story and Jonathan Majors’ Damian is both of those things. Also, I won’t say why but this movie made me cry. Movies that make me cry automatically get an extra point in the review because I had no idea how immersed and invested I was until it happened. Good fuckin job Creed 3, mission complete.

Tessa Thompson, Michael B Jordan, and more all deliver some really good performances and are able to remind us why we love this character. Don’t get me wrong Jonathan majors stole the whole freaking movie but everybody brought their A-game and was delivering. Every time Phylicia Rashad blesses the screen the scene gets elevated to another level. Mama Creed forces others to dig deep to keep up with her. Rashad has a grace that forces everyone else to fall in line when she’s speaking. Creed’s daughter is cool too and I can’t wait for her spinoff.

THE BAD

Creed 3 has some pacing problems. Yes, the movie is helping its pacing by not dwelling on moments and keeping the momentum going but there are things that we are told that happen that we don’t get to see on screen. I wish this movie was just a little longer and would expand on those moments. Creed 3 has a few time skips but I really feel like it was a missed opportunity for them to build up the finale more by showing some of these moments. For example, We’re told about some of Damian’s smack-talking about Creed to amp up their fight but we only see and hear about it in passing. I wanna see this shit talk go down.

Michael B. Jordan’s acting was a little inconsistent. There are moments when I feel he’s fully in character and then there are scenes where I feel he is phoning it in. I can’t my finger on if it’s the dialogue or what but they are slightly distracting when they happen. There’s a scene showing Creed training for his fight with Damian that stands out. When you see those scenes it doesn’t even seem like the people in the background believe his performance and… it is what it is.

OVERALL

I love this movie and this is easily the best movie in the trilogy. I am very excited about Creed 3 and I would love to see this franchise continue. I’m also down for them to do spinoffs with Creed’s daughter and of course Jonathan majors’ Damian.