“How does it feel having someone else sing your song?” -Damian Anderson (CREED 3)

“How does it feel having someone else sing your song?” — Damian Anderson (CREED 3).

We can flip the above question a little and ask, “How does it feel seeing someone else live the life you’re supposed to live?”

I think that was the prevailing theme of the movie Creed 3, the quest to live a failed dream (especially when running out of time).

I’m sure many people can identify with this, a life of more regrets than fulfillment.

The movie, Creed 3, was good.

It continued the trend of allowing “unscheduled” and/ or “unseeded” fighters to get a chance at a major boxing title. Well, that itself is not a bad thing. But it’s becoming predictable.

It’s as if all it takes to get a title shot is to show up as a boxer, and ensure the main contender is “conveniently and accidentally injured.” Won’t a boxing champion have a long waiting list of qualified contenders?

I love the transitions, and two of them stand out. The first one was from the scene at the liquor store, where the young Adonis is punching a guy on the floor and it flowed into him (the older version of himself) fighting in the ring against ‘Pretty” Ricky Conlan. The second was the younger Adonis clapping ringside when his friend, Damian, won a fight, and it transitioned into him clapping while sitting in the car with Damian.

I felt the emotions on Damian’s face when he talked about getting a title shot. His desperation showed, and his antics in the ring were funny and eye-catching.

Most of the fight scenes were on point, those ribs-shaking, and belly-quaking punches were awesome to behold. Adonis’s “calculation / chess-like moves” against Ricky Conlan were nicely done. But I wonder why it was not vividly repeated in the final fight.

The best fight scene, for me, was the one between Felix Chavez and Damian. It had all the drama, vehemence, and viciousness of a grudge match. The main and final fight of the movie, between Adonis and Damian, lacked the intensity witnessed in previous installments of Creed movies. If Creed 3 is placed side by side with both fights in Creed 2 (i.e. Adonis versus Viktor Drago), it shines brightly as a weakened and sub-standard version.

There was a permeating ferocity in Creed 2 which Creed 3 struggled to achieve. Probably because the underlying reason (i.e. grudge) for the main fight was not unconvincing. The fact that they had a ringside commentator say, “You can actually feel the bad blood between these two in this battle of L.A,” was like trying to tell us to feel and see “the hate” that was obviously not there in the first place.

I would gladly watch Creed 2 again, and again. Maybe because of Amara Creed, Drago, Ricky Conlan, and Felix Chavez, I might watch Creed 3 again. But definitely not that last fight scene.

Overall, Creed 3 is a good movie.

Signed

Olumide Holloway (King Olulu)