Creed III

A minor improvement over its immediate predecessor, Creed III follows Michael B. Jordan’s Adonis Creed as he reluctantly agrees to come out of retirement and fight a former friend (Jonathan Majors’ Damian Anderson). Filmmaker Jordan, making his debut here, kicks Creed III off with a very slow, very subdued opening stretch that doesn’t hold much promise, admittedly, as the picture suffers from an arms-length vibe that’s perpetuated by a general absence of overtly compelling attributes – with the film’s initial saving grace its smattering of engaging sequences and uniformly sterling performances. (Jordan is, in terms of the latter, quite good here, of course, yet it remains clear that Majors’ intense work remains an ongoing highlight within the proceedings.) There’s little doubt, then, that Creed III improves once it progresses into a midsection devoted to a pivotal title fight and its aftermath, as this stretch does, though saddled with a fairly confusing revelation, boast a tense, satisfying feel that’s otherwise absent from the picture’s opening and closing portions.  (The film’s final half hour is simple unable to generate the excitement one might’ve anticipated, as Jordan dilutes the climactic fight with certain visual touches that are distracting and unnecessary.) The end result is a so-so sequel that is, at the very least, watchable from start to finish, which is just a little disappointing, undoubtedly, given the tremendous promise with which the series began.

**1/2 out of ****