“Creed II Review: It’s An Even Better Version Of Rocky IV”

I liked Creed. I have Feelings™ about Rocky IV. It stands to reason that I’d feel at least minor trepidation about a Creed movie that addresses the events of Rocky IV, even though down the line the Creed chapters in the Rocky franchise would need to address Rocky IV out of continuity necessity. 

So consider it a Thanksgiving miracle that Creed II, which opens today, the day before Thanksgiving, is actually pretty gosh darn good. Not as good as Creed. That’s an impossible ask. Creed II utterly lacks Ryan Coogler, which isn’t bad news per se but which puts the film at a disadvantage compared to its predecessor by default. This is what happens when you let your new franchise guy make a movie for another new franchise. (Hi, Black Panther.) 

But Steven Caple Jr. isn’t a slouch, and you’ve still got a cast full of pronounced personalities to fill up the screen with their charisma, so hey, whaddya know, the exercise turns out nicely and even amends the mistakes of Rocky IV. Naturally I had words to put down about it.

You can read all of those words over at Men’s Health.

 

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