Creed III

How do you settle the great debate about who’s the MCU’s greatest villain? In Creed III, the decision to put two of the challengers into a boxing ring is actually a pretty good idea!

Jokes aside, the third (and, hopefully, final) film in the excellent Creed series is a suitably solid chapter. Even without Ryan Coogler behind the camera (with Michael B. Jordan doing an excellent job taking over the reins as Director) and Sylvester Stallone (whose own lack of involvement has caused a little controversy with his statements around the rights to Rocky) this franchise sustains its consistency.

Opting to keep things fairly simple and streamlined really suits this film. Adonis Creed is such an interesting character and Jordan is so dedicated to the role that further exploring his own psyche and internal conflict as he approaches retirement makes for great viewing. Introducing the brilliant Jonathan Majors as a former boxing prodigy whose backstory perfectly embellishes Creeds just serves to make this story as enthralling as its predecessors.

What follows is fairly predictable but you care for these characters and the boxing scenes continue to have such visual flair and wince-inducing sound that you still sit on the edge of your seat for each fight. The soundtrack, once again, is a winner and everything just feels incredibly solid.

It’s shorter than its predecessors which is a bit of a breath of fresh air in recent times but that does mean that the latter half of the film feels a little rushed with a few plot drivers that veer on the wrong side of the ‘realism’ divide but this series deserves praise for being more than what anyone could have expected upon its initial release and an example to other ‘legacy sequels’ out there.

4 stars ****