When Rocky IV hit theaters in 1985, the humble appeal of the original film had all but vanished. The first Rocky had nothing to prove: An unanticipated success, its total lack of presumption mirrored that of the unassuming, low-born title character played famously by Sylvester Stallone. The rest, of course, is history. Audiences fell in love with Rocky, and an American film legend was born. With Rocky IV, the franchise achieved a whole new status in that Rocky became an unabashed beacon of American patriotism, a cultural icon wielded as a battering ram against the Soviet Union (personified by Dolph Lundgren’s deadly Russian fighter Ivan Drago). A landmark film in the franchise, it represents the moment that Rocky became a true mythic hero for the United States.
By defining what was good about America, and pitting him against a seemingly unstoppable opponent, Rocky told Americans that we were strong, we were good, and we could still go the distance.
Why all this talk about Rocky IV? Well, because Creed 2, while being a direct sequel to Ryan Coogler’s much-lauded 2015 film, is also the long-awaited sequel to Rocky IV.
Adonis Creed (Michael B Jordan), is the son of Apollo Creed, Rocky’s first and most iconic opponent. Trained by Rocky himself, we find him at the outset having finally achieved a fighter’s greatest dream: He has become the reigning champion, and sits at last on the top of the world. His relationship with his girlfriend Bianca (Tessa Thompson) is moving forward as they contemplate marriage and family, and Rocky has returned to semi-retirement in Philadelphia. Adonis is also discovering that with his success comes a whole new set of domestic challenges. He’s doing his best to cope with his new responsibilities as a soon-to-be husband and father, and the struggles are very real.
But as fate would have it, the biggest challenge is yet to come. Emerging from the shadows of Adonis and Rocky’s pasts come Ivan Drago and his son, a monstrous young boxer named Viktor (Florian Munteanu). Having endured a personal exile to the Ukraine ever since being disgraced by Rocky in their bout in Russia, Ivan has spent his years molding his son into a merciless fighting machine. Adonis knows that to enter the ring with such an opponent would mean to endanger the well-being of his young family. However, he is unable to refuse the challenge, as it represents an opportunity to avenge his father, who died in combat with Ivan Drago decades ago. Against Rocky’s urgent warnings, he once again answers the call to enter the ring.
Audiences expecting a relentless onslaught of fight scenes may be surprised to find that Creed 2 is a rather slow burn at times. Rather than taking up the majority of the story’s dramatic scenes, the excitement of the movie’s boxing matches serves to provide punctuating moments in what is essentially a character study. Much like the Rocky films that precede it, the heroic figure at the center of Creed 2 is brought down to earth by his virtues and flaws alike, and his image as an unstoppable world champion gradually gives way to his new reality as a young and unprepared father, desperately trying to find balance in his new circumstances. The film goes the extra mile by showing us how much heartbreak the antagonistic Viktor and his stone-faced father have had to endure as well. Like Adonis – and like Rocky himself – the Dragos have inched their way out of poverty and obscurity by sheer force of will. They have everything to prove, and nothing to lose, and that is precisely what makes them so dangerous.
By the time Adonis and Viktor meet for their ultimate showdown in Russia, the only price we pay after all of this excellent character development is that we aren’t quite sure we want to see them fight at all. Adonis lost his father to Ivan Drago, and at long last, he has the chance to face an opponent that the odds say he can’t possibly beat. To win would mean accomplishing something that even his iconic father never could. But, as the film has labored to show us, Viktor Drago has his own brokenness: His mother is estranged, and his father has treated him less like a son and more like a means to an end. Perhaps it isn’t a fight with Adonis that he wants most, but the love of family that Adonis so clearly possesses in abundance. Adonis is simply the obstacle that stands in his way of achieving his goal.
Family, parenthood, legacy: These are the themes the tie together the many strands of Creed 2’s web. It is a call to men to accept the burdens of fatherhood, so that they can give and receive a love that they could never experience otherwise. It is a call for sons to do what they can to rescue what is good about their flawed fathers, and to bring them out of the darkness and back into the light. It is a call for families to recognize the supporting role they play in their patriarchs’ daily struggles, and to be there for them in their hour of need.
The film’s image of a true family is this: An exercise in service to one another, in unrequited love, in commitment to the hardships that these responsibilities bring, all the while living in hope that together we can weather any storm.
It is, if you will, a homily that faithful men and their families in the audience will always need to hear. Creed 2 is a blessing in the form of a film, and I can’t wait to watch it again.
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