MBJ shows a lot of promise in his directorial debut, Creed III. The film stands apart from the rest of the Rocky franchise with a little spin on toxic masculinity. However, I don’t think MBJ stuck the landing in that regard. The narrative message was a bit vague, but I think it was advocating using your fists to resolve childhood trauma. Probably not the best message.
Regardless of that message, Creed III is worth seeing for the cinematography and editing alone. MBJ’s love for anime is on full display during the fight scenes. The scenes are brutal but also exaggerated in a fun way by zooming in on and slowing down the punches. The contrasting colors made everything on the screen pop.
The last fight takes place in an outdoor stadium at night, so you get to use Mother Nature as your backdrop. The stormy clouds really emphasized the grand scope of the fight. It looked akin to an epic battle between Greek gods.
Before I wrap this up, we need to discuss the montage. As you know, every Rocky movie has a montage - Creed III is no different. In fact, it includes not one - but two - yes two - montages. In addition to the training montage, we get an emotions montage. That’s right - Creed III introduces the “Emotional Montage.” In a series of strung-together shots, we witness Creed deal with sad event after sad event. I don’t know if MBJ intended to make that scene a twist on the montage, but it works well.
The emotional beats separate Creed III from the other Rocky/Creed sequels for the better. I highly recommend Creed III and look forward to the next film MBJ directs.
Would you rather have to fight Adonis Creed or "Diamond" Dame Anderson?