← Back to Reviews
in
Creed ( Ryan Coogler, 2015)
Creed ( Ryan Coogler, 2015)
Director: Ryan Coogler
Writers: Ryan Coogler, Aaron Covington
Cast: Michael B. Jordan, Sylvester Stallone, Tessa Thompson
Genre: Drama Sports
What's about: A young troubled man (Michael B. Jordan) with a passion for boxing discovers he's the son of boxing great, Apollo Creed. Dispute his step mother wishes (Phylicia Rashad) he leaves for the city to seek out the former Heavyweight World Champion Boxer, Rocky Balboa (Sylvester Stallone). Rocky who's retired from boxing, runs a small restaurant and wants nothing to do with training a young boxer.
Review: I liked this more than I expected to. It has some strong points and some things that I wish were done differently. The main strength is the performance by Sylvester Stallone. He's so good in this that he was nominated for an Oscar. He should have won too. He's really quite likable as a much older Rocky. I enjoyed seeing him re-portray the great boxer. The film is respectful to the earlier Rocky films and that's a big plus. It's a good straight forward story and one that is very watchable.
What could have been better: All films have things about them that could be done better, so this is not a knock, as much as it's a wish list of what I would have liked seen done. I'll do this bullet style.
Still, overall this movie is worth watching for it's respectful treatment of the original Rocky movies and for Sylvester Stallone's fine performance.
Writers: Ryan Coogler, Aaron Covington
Cast: Michael B. Jordan, Sylvester Stallone, Tessa Thompson
Genre: Drama Sports
What's about: A young troubled man (Michael B. Jordan) with a passion for boxing discovers he's the son of boxing great, Apollo Creed. Dispute his step mother wishes (Phylicia Rashad) he leaves for the city to seek out the former Heavyweight World Champion Boxer, Rocky Balboa (Sylvester Stallone). Rocky who's retired from boxing, runs a small restaurant and wants nothing to do with training a young boxer.
Review: I liked this more than I expected to. It has some strong points and some things that I wish were done differently. The main strength is the performance by Sylvester Stallone. He's so good in this that he was nominated for an Oscar. He should have won too. He's really quite likable as a much older Rocky. I enjoyed seeing him re-portray the great boxer. The film is respectful to the earlier Rocky films and that's a big plus. It's a good straight forward story and one that is very watchable.
What could have been better: All films have things about them that could be done better, so this is not a knock, as much as it's a wish list of what I would have liked seen done. I'll do this bullet style.
- The movie was underexpose and it was to dark. Sure subdued lighting can add realism and I bet that's why the director did it, but this needed the exposure set up by 1/2 a stop, as it was hard to see what was going on at times. More light please.
- Give the actors some head room. The framing was so tight that we hardly got a wide or mid angle view. Often the actors heads were partly cut off. Doesn't anyone remember Max Headroom?...I suppose the director choose that style of close framing to match the letter boxing format...closer up equals being able to see the actors better, but it was too claustrophobic.
- Shaky cam, or in other words the handheld camera that moves during a still shot. I'm OK with the shaky cam but not when your backdrop has horizontal lines such as brickwork...as it makes the weaving of the handheld camera very apparent. A couple of shots made me feel woozy. A tripod would have worked better.
- The use of on screen computer style graphics. When the boxers first appear in the movie we get their boxing stats superimposed over the shot. Tarantino does that and it's silly and looks gimmicky. It's even more silly for other directors to copy him.
Still, overall this movie is worth watching for it's respectful treatment of the original Rocky movies and for Sylvester Stallone's fine performance.