I Watch Films: Creed
I’m not really into boxing, and sports films tend to be dumb on either the story, or on the sports. This, though is really good.
In a remix of the film Rocky, Apollo Creed’s son Adonis seeks out the retired Rocky and convinces him to train him. Meanwhile the light heavyweight champion (Ricky Conlan), having beaten everyone worth fighting, and on the hook for gun charges that will send him to prison, needs one more payday (and hopefully to keep his legend alive).
There’s some talk of legacy, and growing old, and generation change, and illness. Stallone has flirted with being a great actor (and writer and director) but never quite got there. However he is a clever, and subtle, and interesting one when given the chance, as here. Jordan is pretty good, and looks and moves like a boxer.
But it’s the fight scenes that it’s about, especially the fight in Philly, where it’s one shot* from the dressing room to the end of the fight, with the camera moving around the fighters. Absolutely first class filmmaking there. And two blokes punching each other!
Watch This: For a superb boxing film
Don’t Watch This: If you don’t care about dudes hitting each other.
* Apparently. There’s a moment or two when they leave the dressing room where if you have a medium sized CGI budget you could slip an edit in. Here's an article talking about it.
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