Movie review: ‘Creed’ is best Rocky movie since ‘Rocky’

Starring Michael B. Jordan, Sylvester Stallone and Tessa Thompson. Directed by Ryan Coogler.

Rated PG-13 for violence, language and some sensuality. Check listings for theaters. 2 hours, 12 minutes.

Bottom line: Underdog boxing drama is a winner

Back in 1976, our bicentennial year, the nation yearned for a red, white and blue plate special piled high with corn. Something to believe in. Then, up those Philadelphia Museum of Art steps, backed by the Bill Conti theme, that something arrived.

Nobody went to the first “Rocky” for the finesse of the filmmaking. They went for the underdog-rooting, for Rocky and Adrian, for the unexpected sweetness, for the redemption angle, for the reconstituted boxing movie cliches that tasted not new, but new-ish. It was simply time for “Rocky,” written by and starring Sylvester Stallone, directed by John Avildsen. I saw it three times when it came out. With the rest of the “Rockys,” the ones concerned with ego and celebrity and increasingly contrived suffering, once was enough, although No. 6, “Rocky Balboa” in 2006, wasn’t bad.

So, “Creed,” a seventh “Rocky” movie? Apollo Creed, Rocky’s old nemesis turned best friend, had a son who grows up a scrappy fighter in the L.A. foster care system? Moves to Philly, connects with Rocky, who’s tending the restaurant and still wearing that hat? Rocky trains him for a big fight?

That’s how it goes, yes. And damned if “Creed” isn’t easily the best “Rocky” movie since “Rocky.”

There is, in fact, more filmmaking savvy in co-writer and director Ryan Coogler’s prowling opening shot, introducing us to young Adonis Johnson in a 1998 L.A. prologue, than there was in all of the ’76 original. Most of the picture’s set in the present day. Michael B. Jordan is Adonis, who keeps his famous deceased father a secret, so he can stake his own claim in the ring.

Rocky likes the kid, but the kid has to learn to fight smart, not fight angry. Well, smart and angry, that’s the ticket. Rocky’s initially reluctant; he hasn’t visited the old boxing gym in years. The first of three training montages kicks in, as does Adonis’ romance with the musician downstairs, Bianca (Tessa Thompson, from “Dear White People” and a huge asset here). Rocky faces a life-threatening health crisis; Adonis faces a vicious Brit (played by ABA heavyweight champ Anthony Bellew) in a Liverpool title match.

I fear that a lot of what makes “Creed” better than you’d expect — the character stuff — may work against it at the box office. But you never know; quality sometimes wins out, although it’s Stallone’s aging Rocky who at one point in “Creed” notes: “Time takes everybody out. Time’s undefeated.” That’s a pretty sticky line, but the way Stallone says it, under his breath, the corn works; it feels like a moment overheard, not a thesis line hammered. With “Creed,” Coogler proves he is one of the most skillful young directors around. Turns out we really did need another “Rocky” movie.