Earlier in the month, I got to watch ‘Creed III’ in theaters.

I should admit–this movie had not been on my radar to see at all. Sure, I had seen it around here and there; but the title didn’t mean as much to me as it would to someone who is avid Michael B. Jordan fan (considering that this film marked his directorial debut), or to someone else who enjoyed growing up following the Rocky franchise (I actually didn’t know the Creed trilogy was born from the ‘Rocky’ movies until later). Despite this, I somehow found myself among the moviegoers in theaters to see it on its opening weekend. I had no background or expectations going in–but I was surprised that I quite enjoyed the movie, namely for some themes that it engaged with that I wanted to share my thoughts on here.

(I’ll also note: I’m not coming at this as a seasoned movie critic, and am certainly not even attempting to conduct a comprehensive review of the movie. I have a bit more knowledge about boxing than, say, the average person (I started doing some light boxing training here and there a couple of years ago, mostly for fitness purposes); but I’m no expert. And what’s most important is probably this: I came to this movie without having watched any of the previous Creed movies, and I can’t even remember the last time I watched any of the Rocky films. I recognize that all of these factors are things that change the perspective of a moviegoer, and thus the takeaways that one has after watching the film. With that said, I’m not going to be focusing so much on the specific plot or story progression; but moreso broader themes presented that left me feeling satisfied with my choice on how to spend a Saturday evening.)

Black male emotions (specifically, pain)

A surprising amount of the story was spent directly and indirectly exploring the emotions of both the protagonist and the antagonist. I’m sure that other viewers may have different feelings on it, but I not only liked this approach, but also found it highly valuable. I appreciated that it gave more dimension to Black men than what society has been trained to expect. There was of course anger and frustration; but there was also guilt and grief, complicated by time and other external factors. It also portrayed the very realistic scenario of a person who spent so much time not engaging with the depths of their emotions, now struggling with how to begin doing so, and in a healthy manner at that. Sure, some would say it was overdone; but I think the mental and emotional aspects being juggled were very human experiences, and seeing that portrayed onscreen by a stereotyped demographic in a stereotyped field is overall a good thing.

Dreams unfulfilled

If Black male emotions were the primary trope explored, then navigating life with unfulfilled dreams rang out as a close secondary trope for me. Of course, the center of this story is a representation of the underdog who made it–but, unlike him, Creed was surrounded by individuals who had to watch their dreams fester in the Sun. It wasn’t just Dame and his derailed boxing career; but also Bianca, Adonis’ wife, who had to shift her singing career due to hearing loss. I appreciated that the story allowed these two characters the space to come together one-on-one and actually breach the subject head-on. For me, their interaction unveiled a contrast for how one can go about handling the pain of having the opportunity to chase your dream taken from you. Navigating life with unfulfilled dreams is a topic that doesn’t get talked about much despite being a rather common reality, so I quite appreciated it being a major invisible hand factor that drove this story.

Special Mentions

There were a few other themes presented in the movie that resonated with me that I also wanted to give a shout-out to.

• Diversity of families: The camera shots showcased the nice cozy lifestyle that Adonis Creed’s fame had afforded him–but that didn’t mean that they took the cookie-cutter approach with the Creed family. Adonis and Bianca were two hearing parents to their daughter who was born deaf, and thus raising her in an ASL household. I can’t speak on whether there was convincing inclusion of deaf cultural subtleties (and more specifically, Black deaf culture)–but I can still appreciate what the film was doing by showing an up-close view of such a family dynamic.

• Black love: I will never get tired of seeing positive representations of black love–especially on the big screen. Michael B. Jordan and Tessa Thompson delivered a lovely performance that displayed the tenderness, as well as the thorns, that come with a relationship. I also loved seeing the father-daughter interaction between Adonis and his little girl Amara (played by Mila Davis-Kent), showcasing different forms of love–like being gentle and playful, but also giving in and teaching her how to throw a punch. (I admittedly do think there were some untied ropes around the latter, but that’s for a different forum!)

• Unforeseen health changes: Given all that was going on, Bianca’s hearing loss wasn’t made as present through the story, but the mentions and glimpses of it resonated with me more than I could have anticipated. In a previous post, I touched on the various health circumstances that can rock a person’s sense of normalcy; and I think the hearing loss that Bianca faced was an excellent example of this. While she was otherwise healthy and fortunate enough to have resources to navigate her new condition, it was still apparent that Bianca was struggling with the internal and external changes to what she thought her life would be. This was probably the most relatable aspect of the film for myself, and I only wish the film would have lingered on this aspect a bit more for those of us who it resonated with. 

Last Thoughts

A somewhat surprising overall feeling I had while watching this film was refreshed. So much of what comes out of Hollywood these days feels like it revolves around themes of superheroes, apocalypse storylines, or horror. And it was only after some thought that I realized how fatigued my brain has been from movies in this post-Marvel atmosphere. In my opinion, the superhero movies really pushed the scale of big-screen cinema to seek bigger, faster, grander–but I don’t think that those words are necessarily synonymous with ‘better’. This idea was probably particularly poignant in my mind, considering that just one week earlier I had the chance to catch ‘Antman and the Wasp: Quantumania’ in theaters as well. With ‘Creed III’, the pacing was easy-going yet deliberate, unlike that of a lot of more popular movies these days that suck at our attention spans with their flashy fight scenes. And despite the two main actors being next-level fit (they really had MBJ pulling…a plane?), the movie overall just felt very human, in the best way possible.

This post was something different for me, but I appreciate you reading it! Happy to hear any thoughts you had on the movie or my musings.