By John Corrado

★★½ (out of 4)

Creed III is the ninth entry overall in the iconic Rocky franchise, as well as the third film in the modern spin-off series focused on Apollo Creed’s son Adonis Creed (Michael B. Jordan), and it mostly follows a well-worn formula.

Directed by Jordan, making his behind-the-camera debut, the film completes a trilogy that has never quite regained the energy of its first instalment from 2015. While Creed III is a mostly entertaining film that delivers some decent boxing matches, the story also spins its wheels a bit, and struggles to really stand up to the best entries in the series.

Adonis has now mostly given up fighting to focus on training other boxers, and to spend more time with his family; wife Bianca (Tessa Thompson) and their daughter Amara (Mila Davis-Kent), who is Deaf and speaks sign language, and is developing her own interest in fighting.

But Adonis is pulled back by the return of his childhood friend Damien Anderson (Jonathan Majors), a once-promising boxer who has gotten out of jail and is looking to get back in the ring. The film opens with a flashback involving Adonis and Damien as teenagers, showing part of the incident that led to him spending nearly two decades behind bars. It also plants the seeds for their later rivalry, with Damien feeling like he was abandoned by Adonis. It’s a potentially compelling setup, but despite these deeper themes about brotherhood and revenge, the narrative still feels somewhat thin and predictable.

The rivalry between Adonis and Damien, while the meat of the movie, feels like it could have been fleshed out even further, with the latter turning into somewhat of a one-note antagonist as the film goes on. This is also the first film in the franchise to not feature Sylvester Stallone, and his presence is greatly missed, with barely even a mention of Rocky Balboa. The film plays with the nagging feeling of missing a key ingredient and this might be why.

Jordan and Majors (personal issues involving the actor aside) do deliver a pair of solid performances, and there are some well-shot boxing scenes. Jordan does show promise as a filmmaker with his anime-influenced visual style during the fight scenes, including making a bold stylistic choice during the final fight. This is all to say that Creed III is far from being a bad film, and is often an entertaining one.

But it also lacks a bit of that spark to make it really stand out in the series. It does a decent job of going through the motions, but still often feels like it is just going through them. That said, the 4K disc does pack a punch in the visual department, with sharp definition and colour balance..

Bonus Features (4K Ultra HD):

The 4K disc contains no special features, but the set comes with a regular Blu-ray, where the handful of bonuses are held. A code for a digital copy is also included in the package, which ships with a slipcover.

• Michael B. Jordan: In the Ring/Behind the Camera (10 minutes, 4 seconds): Mainly focuses on Jordan making the jump to directing as well as acting, with other cast and crew members talking about his process.

• There’s No Enemy Like the Past: Donnie and Dame (9 minutes, 20 seconds): Jordan and Majors discuss their characters, the real life bond they developed over the course of filming, and the themes of the story.

• Deleted Scenes (Play All – 4 minutes, 23 seconds)

• Scene 29 Dame Steals Candy for Boy (1 minute, 28 seconds)

• Scene 40 Amara School Hallway (54 seconds)

• Scene 103 Duke Talks to Adonis in Church (2 minutes, 9 seconds)

Creed III is a Warner Bros. Home Entertainment release. It’s 116 minutes and rated PG.

Street Date: May 23rd, 2023