The next year, at home in Orlando, Stapp put two guns to his head, intent on blowing out his brains. If I were to envision the best possible product of the majesty, mystique, and intensity, brought to the table by boxing, captured it all. From the brilliant walk-out music , the training, and absolutely stunning fight choreography and cinematography, Creed has it all. The non-boxing parts can feel a bit disjointed at times and then of course it has classic Rocky cheese, but it does enough to honor the original, while going out on its own. Ultimately, the fight for respect faced by Adonis “Donnie” Creed is a similar one faced by the film as a whole. Fortunately, it is entirely successful in forging its own legacy thanks to the fantastic direction from Ryan Coogler and phenomenal performances from Michael B. Jordan and Sylvester Stallone.
One of the most surprising things about “Creed” is how gentle and easygoing it is, notwithstanding the effective brutality of the fight scenes. It is a pleasure to watch Mr. Stallone amble through a movie with nothing much to prove. He is at his best when he works comfortably within his limitations as an actor. With every role, he seems to delight in the unfolding of his talent, and to pass his excitement along to the audience. The older fighter is a mentor and a father figure, to be sure, but he also needs someone to take care of him, especially when illness adds a melodramatic twist to the plot.
As a no- holds-barred sports drama, this is every bit an exceptional crowd pleaser with a lot of heart, plenty of amusing jabs to the ribs, and an unexpected but emotional haymaker to the gut. The musical score for Creed was written by Swedish composer Ludwig Göransson, who is only the third composer in the history of the Rocky series, following Bill Conti and Vince DiCola . Creed also features a soundtrack that consists mostly of music new to the series, including hip hop tracks by artists such as Future, Meek Mill, and White Dave. Both a score and a soundtrack album were released on November 20, 2015 by WaterTower Music and Atlantic Records, respectively.
Rocky’s big speech comes after a scene where he gets some bad news (which I’ll not spoil). Watch how subtly Stallone plays his reaction—he turns the simple gesture of removing his hat into a powerful lament. Coogler loves the faces of his actors, to the point where he shoots one boxing match as an unbroken take focusing on his boxers’ punch-laden mugs.
When she asks him to stop, he serenely says, “In a minute.” In a deleted scene, Lancome makeup says that he has a friend named Jorge who will hook Toby up with anything he wants, including “this amazing coffee that you snort”. Creed also was seen searching through Pam’s desk in Season 4 episode 2. Creed was never actually hired, but walked in one day, and acted like he worked there and has been going in every day since then.
To return to the corner, even with a different boxer, is not on his list of things to do, partially out of guilt for Apollo, but mostly out of a general sense of exhaustion. Of course, Donnie wears him down and, despite some jealousy from a coach at Rocky’s late trainer Mickey’s old gym , Rocky takes on Donnie’s Estee Lauder NIGHT REPAIR mentorship. This eventually leads to an offer to fight Liverpudlian boxing champ Pretty Ricky Conlan . Coogler’s story, co-written with Aaron Covington, unabashedly mirrors the arc of the original “Rocky”. There’s the humble boxer, his mentor and the woman who becomes his significant other and rock of support.