Movie · 2018 · Drama, Action · 2h 10m · PG-13 · English
Curator score: 5.4/10 (174.1K ratings)
There's more to lose than a title.
Overview
Between personal obligations and training for his next big fight against an opponent with ties to his family's past, Adonis Creed is up against the challenge of his life.
Ratings
Curator score: 5.4/10
IMDb: 7.1/10
Rotten Tomatoes: 83%
Metacritic: 66
TMDB: 7.0/10
Director
Steven Caple Jr.
Production
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, New Line Cinema, Winkler Films
Cast
Michael B. Jordan, Sylvester Stallone, Tessa Thompson, Wood Harris, Russell Hornsby, Phylicia Rashād, Dolph Lundgren, Florian Munteanu, Andre Ward, Brigitte Nielsen, Milo Ventimiglia, Robbie Johns, Patrice Harris, Jacob 'Stitch' Duran, Ana Gerena, Benjamin Vaynshelboym, Angelina Shipilina, Pavel Vakunov, Oleg Ivanov, Christopher Mann
Where to watch
Netflix, FilmBox+, Netflix Standard with Ads
Curator Review
Verdict
A solid, crowd-pleasing sequel that leans more conventional than Creed, but still delivers strong emotional payoff, family conflict, and satisfying fight scenes.
Best for
Rocky/Creed fans
sports-drama viewers
audiences who like training montages and big payoff finales
viewers interested in legacy, fatherhood, and generational conflict
Skip if
you want the emotional nuance and freshness of Creed
you dislike formulaic underdog sports movies
you are mainly here for inventive action rather than boxing drama
Overview
Creed II is less elegant than Creed, but it knows exactly how to work an audience. The movie shifts from intimate character study toward a more familiar franchise structure, yet it still finds real weight in Adonis’s struggle between personal ambition, family responsibility, and the pressure of inherited history.
Worth noting
What gives the film its lift is the human drama around the ring. The Drago material is more interesting than the movie initially seems to realize, and the final stretch pays off because it treats the fight as a collision of pride, grief, and unfinished business rather than just a sports rematch.
Bottom line
It is not the best film in the series, but it is an effective one: muscular, emotional, and built for cheers. If you want a boxing sequel that still lands a few genuine punches, this does the job.
Top Letterboxd reviews
karen h. (2.5★) · 2361 likes
i think about the fact that dolph lundgren has a master's degree in chemical engineering constantly
matt lynch (3★) · 1336 likes
Sacrifices almost all of Coogler's emotional intelligence and nuance for, well, a pretty generic ROCKY sequel with Adonis' arc one of masculine pride restored. In fact it's the Dragos who have the more succinct and novel underdog story (honestly I was sort of rooting for them, and anyway it's great to see Dolph in a dramatic role, no matter how small). The performances are so convincing that it's still relatively effective by the end but the last thing this movie should've been is merely acceptable.
Patrick Willems (3.5★) · 1137 likes
The fight scenes got the crowd of middle schoolers in my theater to actually pay attention, cheer, gasp, and applaud, so I'd say the movie is pretty effective.
2010 · Drama · 1h 56m · R · Curator 7.6/10 (688.8K ratings) · Where to watch: Amazon Prime Video, Paramount Plus Premium, Paramount Plus Essential, Amazon Prime Video with Ads
A gritty family sports drama about ambition, loyalty, and the complicated people orbiting a boxer’s career.