Review: Michael B. Jordan Delivers a Brawler in ‘Creed III’

This image released by MGM shows Michael B. Jordan as Adonis Creed in a scene from "Creed III." (MGM via AP)
This image released by MGM shows Michael B. Jordan as Adonis Creed in a scene from "Creed III." (MGM via AP)
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Review: Michael B. Jordan Delivers a Brawler in ‘Creed III’

This image released by MGM shows Michael B. Jordan as Adonis Creed in a scene from "Creed III." (MGM via AP)
This image released by MGM shows Michael B. Jordan as Adonis Creed in a scene from "Creed III." (MGM via AP)

It must be a daunting prospect to pick up a franchise on the third movie. Add in the pressure of following filmmakers like Ryan Coogler and Steven Caple Jr. in your directorial debut that you’re also starring in and it’s enough to make you wonder what on earth Michael B. Jordan was thinking.

But “Creed III,” in US theaters on Friday, is a new start for Adonis Creed. He’s finally out of the shadow of his father Apollo and Rocky Balboa, whose legacy loomed large over the first two films (Sylvester Stallone decided “Creed II” would be his last). With Rocky out of the way, and the younger Creed solidly in place as the best in the world, the franchise can breathe a little and grow.

Enter the Dame (not that kind of dame).

This one is in the form of Jonathan Majors, an old buddy from their teenage years in a group home in the early 2000s. Dame, or Damian Anderson, is a bit older than Creed. He’s the one who’s boxing in the underground matches at night. The young Creed (Thaddeus J. Mixon), a little awkward, a little too eager to please and a little too ready for trouble, is the one carrying water (and bags and gloves) and helping him strategize.

There is a palpable menace established early on with these two — an unequal power and age dynamic, sure, but also the implication that Dame (Spence Moore II) is more than willing to play dirty. He carries a gun. He fixes games. And he has a hold on young Adonis. The flashback ends with a violent altercation outside a convenience store. Dame goes away. Creed becomes Creed.

This flashback is important but does get the film off to a bit of a slow start, jumping forward chronologically to Creed’s last fight and then to his present-day retirement life — a luxurious and tranquil existence in the Hollywood Hills in a modernist mansion with his daughter Amara (Mila Davis Kent) and wife Bianca (Tessa Thompson), who has given up singing mostly to produce hit records.

Life is nice for the obscenely rich in LA: The clothes are expensive, the cars are price upon request, the house always spotless and the staff unseen (save for a chef in one scene). At the gym run by Duke (Wood Harris), he’s trying to mentor the next generation of champions.

Then Dame re-appears and the movie gets its urgency back. His old pal was locked up for 18 years after that incident and is freshly out of prison, wanting to pick up his life and his boxing aspirations where he left off. Creed is pleasant but guarded — for much of the film he acts like an aloof celebrity, hyper conscious of not letting anyone in too close and compartmentalizing the uglier aspects of his past. Still, he takes him out to lunch and offers to help him in any way he can. This is both the right thing to do and also a huge mistake.

“Creed III” is, among other things, about what happens when men don’t talk about their feelings (and ignore Duke’s advice).

At times, it also feels more like a thriller than a sports film as you watch Dame infiltrate Creed’s world. It’s always Creed’s idea, there’s always an invitation, but Dame’s sudden omnipresence starts to feel unavoidable and ominous. Dame has a bit of Eve Harrington in him, but also a very real, very relatable chip on his shoulder for the time he lost. In another movie, he could very well be the underdog we’re rooting for — some of the audience may be rooting for him even so.

Lurking behind everything is the madness that comes from not being able to do what you were born to do. It’s something athletes grapple with earlier than most other professionals. An injury at 23 could take you out when you’re just getting started and in this film Creed, Dame and Bianca are having similar existential crises — though Dame’s desperation is the driving force behind everything that happens.

Jordan and his filmmaking team craft two particularly stunning matches full of suspense, drama and slow motion sweat beads flying through the air. These are only lessened by the cheesy, unhelpful announcers spouting cliches and no actually helpful exposition or explanation outside the ring. And ultimately, it’s a promising debut for the 36-year-old, who shows here that he’ll never let his own star ego get in the way of a film: Majors steals the show, and Jordan is there to capture it.

There’s a comforting but predictable rhythm to a boxing franchise like Rocky and now Creed. The movies must keep justifying themselves, inventing new challenges that make them all feel different enough. But most essentially boil down to the same framework: You have to knock the champion down to a believable underdog again. While there is a case to be made for the final fight to, let’s just say, go a different way than it does, “Creed III” is still a knockout.



Summer Movies: 11 Breakout Actors to Watch

 This image released by Disney shows the character Stitch, left, and Maia Kealoha, as Lilo, in a scene from "Lilo & Stitch." (Disney via AP)
This image released by Disney shows the character Stitch, left, and Maia Kealoha, as Lilo, in a scene from "Lilo & Stitch." (Disney via AP)
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Summer Movies: 11 Breakout Actors to Watch

 This image released by Disney shows the character Stitch, left, and Maia Kealoha, as Lilo, in a scene from "Lilo & Stitch." (Disney via AP)
This image released by Disney shows the character Stitch, left, and Maia Kealoha, as Lilo, in a scene from "Lilo & Stitch." (Disney via AP)

Many of the big movies this summer might come from familiar places - whether they're franchises, sequels or hybrid adaptations of beloved animated classics. But look closer and there are quite a few fresh faces making a splash with memorable characters new and old.

The Associated Press spoke to 10 of the actors about the roles.

Maia Kealoha was 6 years old when she saw an advertisement for an open casting call for the new hybrid "Lilo & Stich" movie and promptly told her parents that's what she wanted to do. Now, 8, Kealoha, who was born on Hawaii's Big Island, is making her film debut as the spirited Lilo in Disney's new live-action adaptation, hitting theaters on May 23.

"It was so amazing," Kealoha said. "I was really proud of myself."

Sydney Elizebeth Agudong, who plays Lilo's older sister and caregiver Nani praised her young co-star.

"It was amazing building a world with her," Agudong, 24, said. "It's a lot of CGI and we're working with aliens and such and she was full of imagination and creativity."

A Kaua'I native, Agudong also came to the role from an open casting call. Being part of the film has been a special experience as a lifelong fan of the animated version and a proud Hawaii resident.

"Hawaii's very much like tough love and soft heart," Agudong said. "We truly created a family and hopefully people can see that."

Happy Gilmore is a dad in the sequel coming to Netflix July 25. The Gilmore boys, played by Ethan Cutkosky ("Shameless"), Conor Sherry ("Shake Shack"), Maxwell Jacob Friedman (a pro-wrestler) and newcomer Philip Schneider, "are just goons," Schneider said.

All came to the project strangers, though intimately familiar with a film they'd all grown up with. And everyone but Friedman, 29, had to prove they had a little skill on the ice.

"I looked like a goon so they just assumed I'd be fine on the rink," Friedman laughed.

The four actors quickly found their rhythm together on set in Jersey City playing the rambunctious, troublemaking Gilmore spawn during the four-month shoot.

"The fast pace of stupidity that we got to and what made us family was such an amazing thing," Cutkosky, 25, said. "It's really hard to come by."

Friedman added: "In between scenes, we could like look at each other and know what we were thinking and make each other laugh without talking."

Schneider, 24, attributed the atmosphere to their on-screen dad Adam Sandler, who made the whole set feel like a family. His genius, Schneider said, "is that he gets people he wants to work with and just sees what happens. He trusts the chemistry."

For Sherry, it was helpful so early in his career to get to see how Sandler could be both a giant in the industry and so humble.

"That's the dream, right? To balance both," Sherry, 24, said.

One of the breakout films from Sundance was "Sorry, Baby," a poignant drama that's both funny and shattering about the aftermath of a traumatic event. It's the feature debut of triple threat Eva Victor who wrote, directed and stars as Agnes, a graduate student at a New England school.

"I wanted to make a film that was about feeling stuck when everyone around you keeps moving that really didn't center any violence," said Victor, 31.

Victor, who had a recurring role on "Billions," was making short comedy videos online and writing for the satirical website Reductress when Oscar-winning "Moonlight" filmmaker Barry Jenkins messaged them and asked if they had any scripts. Now, that script is going to be in theaters on June 27, through A24.

"I hope the film finds people when they need it," Victor said.

Ben Wang didn't know he was up against some 10,000 people vying to play the new Karate Kid.

The 25-year-old actor, best known for his role on the Disney+ series "American Born Chinese," learned that after the fact. But it was a stressful month of not sleeping very well while waiting to hear if he got it, he said.

"Karate Kid: Legends" (out May 30) brings together Jackie Chan's Mr. Han and Ralph Macchio's Daniel LaRusso for this new entry, about teenager at a new school, Wang's Li, who has to learn from both.

"It's a fun one to play," Wang said. "And I get to try to kick Jackie Chan which is new and exciting for me."

Nico Parker grew up with both the "How to Train Your Dragon" books and movies, so it was a dream come true when she got the chance to play Astrid in the new live-action adaptation (June 13).

"It's a difficult thing when there's already such a brilliant version of Astrid out there," Parker, 20, said. "The main thing that I really wanted to be prevalent in everything was how driven she is and how it doesn't come easy. It takes effort and skill and determination."

Parker, the daughter of actor Thandiwe Newton and director Ol Parker, has been on sets her whole life. She was only 11 when she filmed Tim Burton's "Dumbo." But this feels different, she said, because she really understands the scale and scope of being in a major franchise.

"To be older I feel as if I'm acknowledging way more what it means and doesn't mean," she said. "And I get much more stressed about it."

You can't blame filmmaker Mike Flanagan for assuming Benjamin Pajak was a skilled dancer. Pajak made his Broadway debut as Winthrop in "The Music Man" with Hugh Jackman and Sutton Foster. But ask Pakaj, now 14, and he demurs that dancing is not exactly his strong suit.

But you would never guess to see him waltzing and sambaing across the floor (thanks to Mandy Moore's choreography) in "The Life of Chuck" (out June 6).

"Film is so different from theater," Pajak said. "But there were just so many people kind of lifting me up and helping me throughout the process."

One of those was Mark Hamill, who plays his grandfather. Perhaps even more exciting than being in the movies? Sharing scenes with Luke Skywalker.

Superman's very good boy Krypto might be a computer-generated creation, but the inspiration was a very real dog: Filmmaker James Gunn's rescue Ozu. It was difficult transition to life in a home -- Ozu destroyed shoes, furniture and even his laptop. Gunn, who was at work writing "Superman," thought, "How difficult would it be if Ozu had superpowers?"

That was how Krypto came to be part of the newest "Superman" (out July 11) changing the story and the script. The white pup features prominently in the film's trailer. At the Puppy Bowl earlier this year Gunn said that Krypto is lovable and mischievous and has all of the powers of Superman - and, yes, he can fly too.