“Rocky, Apollo Creed’s son looks at you and says, ‘family.’ What does that mean to you?” “It means I’m a lucky guy, what can I say.”
Creed is a rather formulaic movie, that formula being “Rocky movie.” To be clear, “Rocky movie” is a genre unto itself. It is a dialect within the language of underdog movies within the family of languages of sports movies. This latest entry fulfills the promise of that dialect.
Following in the footsteps of the recent Fast and Furious sequels, Creed incorporates all of the most ridiculous elements of the previous sequels in the series and turns them into something beautiful. But whereas those car movies have become increasingly over-the-top, this latest boxing tale scales back to the intimate size of the original. It is essentially the same story as Rocky, but Creed utilizes this framework to key into the heritage and possible futures of its main characters. Adonis Creed’s biggest accomplishment is not going the distance but instead, living up to his personal identity while nourishing his place in his family (birth, makeshift, or otherwise).
Jeff Malone is a voracious entertainment consumer and entertainment creator. He currently resides in New York City, where he received his Master’s in Media Studies at The New School. In addition to his pieces on TMRzoo.com and StarPulse.com, you can check out his blog (jmunney.wordpress.com), where he provides regular coverage of Community and Saturday Night Live, as well as other television, film, music, and the rest of pop culture.
