Yep, it’s another Rocky sequel. How many of you didn’t know or forgot until Sylvester Stallone pops up near the end of this trailer? I think this might be the longest-running non-rebooted ongoing fiction franchise at this time — in years, that is, not installments. This is only the sixth sequel to the Best Picture-winning original, which was released nearly 40 years ago. Maybe George Romero’s Living Dead movies top it, if he makes more. And if we included nonfiction, then the Up series wins. But it’s fascinating that Stallone is able to continue something for so long that began as a regular underdog sports drama. And he never had to have Rocky Balboa box aliens or robots or dinosaurs to do it.
With Creed, Stallone could very well be passing the torch, successfully. It’s something many old franchises attempt, with past examples being Tron, Indiana Jones and Die Hard. Those went directly to the main hero’s own offspring. Here, the heir is someone else’s son, that of Stallone’s old rival-turned-friend Apollo Creed (Carl Weathers). Rocky has done the mentor thing before, but it didn’t go so well. This, however, looks like it might succeed, if there’s interest in following Michael B. Jordan as Adonis Creed. The marketing team is supporting the idea, for sure, trusting in his story as being central and intriguing viewers long enough that we’re probably already on board before Rocky makes his entrance.
In fact, who needs Rocky? Jordan has plenty of star power on his own, possibly to be elevated with Fantastic Four this summer, and it’s great to see Phylicia Rashad in there, as the third actress to portray Apollo’s wife (now Adonis’s mother), Mary Anne. And you’ve got rising star Tessa Thompson (Selma; Dear White People) and, reuniting Jordan with a fellow cast mate from The Wire, Harris Wood, who isn’t credited on the movie’s IMDb page as even being in this. And are those the “12 O’Clock Boys” riding behind Jordan as he jogs through the streets? Okay, yes, Stallone does look perfect in his evocation of Burgess Meredith’s role of Mickey, but that might not be intentional. Either way, better to see the guy in this than another Expendables sequel.
Creed, which is co-written and directed by Ryan Coogler (who previously worked with Jordan on his Sundance-winning feature debut, Fruitvale Station), opens on November 25th.
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