The Rocky saga continues with the sequel to Creed, Creed II, which was released into theaters on November 21, 2018. The movie takes place in Philadelphia, Los Angeles and Moscow and is centered around Adonis “Donnie” Creed (Michael B. Jordan). Adonis is the heavyweight WBC world champion. Both Creed movies are about the struggles Adonis faces not only preparing to defend his heavyweight title but also balancing family on top of his career. Adonis’ next big bout is against Viktor Drago (Florian Munteanu), Viktor is the son of Ivan Drago (Dolph Lundgren) who killed Adonis’ father, Apollo Creed, at the beginning of Rocky IV. The family history behind the match intensifies the stakes of the fight; it wasn’t just about the title it was about protecting their family’s legacy.

Although Creed II lacks the artistic originality of the Rocky movies and follows the same generic formula of boxing movies, Creed II was still a fantastic movie and lived up to the historic Rocky saga legacy, scoring a 7.7 out of 10 from IMDb. This sequel was definitely a success in the reincarnation of the Rocky saga. The main problem with Creed II is the same problem that every successful movie saga eventually faces, no matter how good the movie actually is it can never outshine its predecessors. But the terrific acting of Michael B. Jordan, the phenomenal directing and filming and the intelligent writing allows the movie to portray a story of hope.

The acting assists in showing the central theme of hope because the actors thoroughly depict the emotions of their characters. Michael B. Jordan truly becomes the character he is acting. His role commitment shows in all of the movies he acts in, especially the Creed movies in which his passion and emotion throughout the movie brings the storyline and mainly his character’s internal struggles to life. He has acted in many blockbuster movies, such as Black Panther, Red Tails and Fantastic Four, and he will continue to receive major roles considering his career has recently taken off due mainly to both Creed movies and Black Panther.

Creed II was obviously not as good as the other Rocky movies but it is still an amazing movie full of emotions, action and hope. It is a successful sequel to Creed, which reincarnated the Rocky saga and hopefully a third Creed movie will be released. This movie is a must see for those who enjoy sports and or dramatic themed movies, and for those who don’t Creed II is still worth seeing because you can still appreciate and enjoy the movie.