Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Creed III’ on Prime Video, An Explosive Head-to-Head Matchup of Two Gifted Actors (2024)

The Rocky franchise has given us so much, from the image of the Italian Stallion fist pumping atop the Philadelphia Museum of Art steps to “Eye of the Tiger.” So what can Creed III, now streaming on Amazon Prime Video, add? Turns out quite a lot with star Michael B. Jordan taking on a role in the director’s chair and setting up a match-up — both acting and boxing — with another worthy talent.

CREED III: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

The Gist: Adonis “Donnie” Creed (Michael B. Jordan) is enjoying his retirement from the ring, scaling up his gym operations as well as spending quality time with his wife Bianca (Tessa Thompson) and hearing-impaired daughter Amara (Mila Davis-Kent). That tranquil existence gets quite a jolt by the sudden, surprising reappearance of his old childhood friend Damian “Dame” Anderson (Jonathan Majors), who spent decades in prison stemming from an event in their past from which Donnie walked away untouched. An appeal to his compassion and the ties from their shared path first gives way to sympathy as Donnie lets Dame train at the gym alongside protégé Felix “El Guerrero” Chavez.

Dame’s reliance on scrappiness to survive behind bars quickly becomes evident. Still believing in his better angels, Donnie sets Dame up for an improbable world championship match against Chavez. The brawl shows Dame does not brawl like a hurt dog — he brawls like a vicious one. Realizing the cynical ploy of revenge at hand from his former pal, Donnie decides he has no choice but not to get back in shape to face off against Dame to end the ruthless challenge to all he holds dear.

What Movies Will It Remind You Of?: The obvious answer is any other Rocky or Creed movie, although Creed III does not feel overly reverential to its predecessors or Easter egg-laden. That might be partly because of the absence of the franchise’s decades-long center of gravity, Sylvester Stallone. Jordan in the director’s chair makes the most of that absence by taking the opportunity to pull the franchise closer to his own tastes and likes, such as anime action that shows up very conspicuously in the fight scenes.

Performance Worth Watching: Putting aside the off-camera story involving Jonathan Majors as much as one can, he’s really the star of the show in Creed III. Majors can conjure this scary, seductive brew of violence and vulnerability — often tinged with notes of solitude as expressed through Damien — that makes him a uniquely compelling screen presence.What’s particularly poignant is seeing how Dame is very much the flipside of Donnie. Majors gets to play the tragedy while Jordan embodies the triumph of two people who emerge from a fateful incident.

Memorable Dialogue: “They think it’s about violence … it’s not,” Adonis instructs his daughter Amara as she punches around in the gym — and fulfilling her lineage. “It’s about focus, timing, and control.”

Sex and Skin: As the voiceover in one TV spot geared toward female audiences put it, “tell your boyfriend it’s a boxing movie.” There are plenty of shots of the absurdly jacked Jordan and Majors, but none of it in an overtly sexualized context. The closest the movie gets is when Bianca points out a stain on Adonis’ shirt, he playfully asks her, “you trying to get me naked?”

Our Take: No Rocky, no problem. Michael B. Jordan makes a confident directorial debut with Creed III that can appeal to both the die-hard fans of the boxing series and win new fans as well. This is a film not as enamored with the self-mythologization to which Stallone was so prone to indulge, instead boiling its tensions down to a conflict between two men who represent flip sides of the same coin. The triumph and the tragedy go head-to-head here, and that tension becomes palpable when incarnated by the committed performances of Jordan and Majors. They can ably represent both the lived histories and realities of their characters as well as something much larger.

Our Call: STREAM IT! Creed III is a rousing good time no matter how many Rocky movies you’ve seen. It checks all the boxes to keep people who want all their sports competition film needs met (hello training montages!) with enough to satisfy the dramatic storytelling needs of someone who can’t tell a Balboa from a Drago.

Marshall Shaffer is a New York-based freelance film journalist. In addition to Decider, his work has also appeared on Slashfilm, Slant, The Playlist and many other outlets. Some day soon, everyone will realize how right he is about Spring Breakers.

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