[ad_1]
In Credo II, the rather entertaining suite of KO 2015 Creed, Michael B. Jordan plays the role of a heavyweight champion who walks around in his own car, remains impassive on the streets of Philadelphia as he heads to his favorite Philly-steak joint and, in a moment of real desperation, takes his baby his daughter to the gym, where he regains his will to fight lost until then. These are the kinds of gonzo dramatic touches you want in a boxing movie, especially in the sequel to a film as sumptuously exuberant as Creed was.
They are not enough. But at least they are something. Credo II, directed by Steven Caple Jr. (who has already directed a feature film, a drama of 2016 on skateboarding Earth), is downright entertaining: you can spend a few hours watching it and feel little pain, aside from the occasional sympathetic spasm that occurs during the film's climactic and at least semi-thrilling fight sequence. This time, Jordan's Adonis Johnson – who, as you'll probably remember, is the illegitimate son of Adonis Creed, the opponent turned rocky Balboa's friend – became the heavyweight champion and he decided to ask Tessa Thompson's Bianca to become his wife. (She says yes.) He then accepts the challenge of a formidable new enemy, Viktor Drago (played by heavyweight boxer Florian "Big Nasty" Munteanu), son of Ivan Drago (Dolph Lundgren). The former Drago killed Adonis' father in the ring (as we saw in the Rocky IV). Now, he pushes his sullen and sturdy kid to follow his hooligan tracks. Rocky (Sylvester Stallone), coach and substitute father of young Adonis, does not like the idea of a Creed-Drago ticket, but Adonis feels compelled to accept it. He shoots Rocky and retires to Los Angeles with Bianca to get ready for the big game.
That's far from being the case. There are too many insignificant ideas, and too much intrigue, stuffed into Creed II to make it the elegant power that his predecessor was. Revisiting Lundgren has something nostalgic: Papa Drago is a severe and fearsome robot, until he is not. He spends most of the film barking orders to his son as he oversees the child's training at home in Ukraine. Silent and sullen, Viktor angrily swears that his father – who is also apparently his boss at work – shouts at him things like, "When you're done, unload the cement" and "When I say faster, run faster." Viktor dumped the cement conscientiously, still compliant, he ran faster, and Viktor de Muneteanu did all that he was asked for, both by Drago and Caple, and without a word, he portrayed a credible image of a powerful guy who did not Not so secretly live under the thumb of his father.
Draco the elder also plays his son with cruel games, telling him that his mother left them because Viktor was just not good enough. (When Brigitte Nielsen comes in to take over the role of Ludmilla Drago, she's iced in a dress and you'll be glad you did not have your Mom.) Meanwhile, Adonis has all the love and support of the world – of Bianca, who pursues her musical career while losing hearing, of the woman who welcomed her and who raised her, Mary Anne of Phylicia Rashad, and, of course, Rocky. To watch Stallone in this role is to put on an old pair of old running shoes, so fight and exhaust yourself to not loose the laces. He is as charming and funny as he needs to be, and he helps you to cross.
Likewise, Jordan is also friendly without effort, but unlike Stallone, he is often shirtless. Caple and the director of photography, Kramer Morgenthau, do not lose his sculpted masculine beauty: they film the shiny surface of his chest with great reverence for the glory of the human form, although their camera does not exceed the visual murmur silent of "Day-um". sometimes. We are all human beings.
The film, as a whole, is beautiful – it's a good thing because no one needs an ugly boxing movie. And the last combat sequence has a brutal and elegant aspect: when Viktor, the desperate child turns into a scathing fighter, inserts his fleshy fist into the rib cage of Adonis, you feel the cracking of these fragile bones but of a capital importance. Creed II is a perfectly OK sequel. One can find comfort in the predictability of his rhythms. But it is only at the end that he acquires a real vitality. All the ribs that broke along the way healed transparently before leaving the theater.
Source link
