Review: Creed III (2023)

Jordan makes his directorial debut in the franchise's ninth film.

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MGM

It's not very often that the ninth film in a franchise still manages to land a punch (I promise I'll go easy on the boxing metaphors), but the Rocky, and now Creed, movies are often surprising. The sustainability of a series about the rise and fall and rise and fall and rise of a boxer seems repetitive on paper, but the franchise has been in a state of constant re-invention for years now, something that Creed III, the latest to hit theaters, shows like no other.

The beginning of this now-trilogy, 2015's Creed, was an unlikely success. The franchise had its' conclusion in Rocky Balboa and to reignite it with a spin-off series following the previously unestablished son of Apollo Creed seemed risky at best, but the vision of Ryan Coogler and the affability of Michael B. Jordan, combined with having Sly Stallone in your corner (sorry!) made for an excellent feature. The second entry gave us everything we could have wanted and more - the bout between Adonis and Viktor Drago, the son of the man (Ivan Drago) who killed his father. It was a straight-from-the-shoulder (sorry!) direct hit.

For many, expectations were high for this third entry.

It delivers.

Creed III is a one-two punch (sorry!) of drama and action that's a doozy all the way through the 12th round (sorry!).

Read Patrick’s review over at Hotchka.