Press "Enter" to skip to content

Movie Review: “Creed III”

Release Date: March 3, 2023

Runtime: 1h 57m

Directed by: Michael B. Jordan

Starring: Michael B. Jordan

            Jonathan Majors

            Tessa Thompson

            Wood Harris

            Phylicia Rashad

The third installment of the “Rocky” spin-off series released this past Friday.

The film takes place in the present day roughly six years after “Creed II,” which was set in 2017. Here, we see Adonis “Donnie” Creed (Jordan) retire from boxing in order to live a more domesticated life with his wife Bianca (Thompson) and daughter Amara.

Just as he steps away from boxing, Creed stumbles upon an old friend from his past, Damian “Diamond Dame” Anderson, who had just been released from an 18-year prison sentence.

As seen in the trailer, Creed attempts to help Anderson regain his ability to box, but soon finds his friend has become jealous of his success and instead desires to steal the championship title away from him. Creed, as he says himself, must return to the ring to clear up some “unfinished business.”

“Creed III” stands out from the previous installments because it serves as Michael B. Jordan’s directorial debut. Throughout the movie, his potential in the film industry became evident due to some fantastic creative decisions he made.

Additionally, the cinematography in the film was stellar. The shots were crisp and clean, and the camera work during the fight scenes placed you inside the action, something consistent throughout the “Creed” franchise.

While I do not typically touch on music during movie reviews, the soundtrack to this film was another one of “Creed III’s” strengths and is worth noting. Each song was strategically formulated and selected to emphasize a certain scene or emotion throughout the film and it accomplished this goal with flying colors.

Another enjoyable part was the acting, specifically the chemistry between Jordan and Majors. Both actors exhorted the proper depth and emotion needed to portray their characters right and were able to alter themselves as the scene demanded. One second, you would think the pair were best friends and the next, you would wonder how they could even stand in the same room as each other.

Comparatively speaking, “Creed III” stormed into the box office with a vengeance this past weekend and generated $58.6 million, which is $29 million more than the first “Creed” and $23.1 million more than the second.

Furthermore, the film served as another huge boost for actor Jonathan Majors, especially after starring in Ant Man and the Wasp: Quantumania less than three weeks ago, proving his career is just developing.

At the risk of making a premature judgment, it seems “Creed III” has the potential to be one of the greatest movies to come out of 2023. Between the cinematography, acting and overall story, the film is very enjoyable. While one does not need to watch the previous two “Creed” installments to appreciate this movie, I would highly encourage it to obtain the right context for the story.

Out of 10 stars, “Creed III” warrants 8.5.

Email this to someonePrint this pageShare on Facebook0Tweet about this on TwitterShare on LinkedIn0

Be First to Comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *