Childhood companions reunite in the emotional “Creed III”
Hearing the name of the movie “Creed III,” one would expect a story focused only on what happens to Adonis Creed, played by Michael B. Jordan. But the longer the movie goes on, you realize that the movie isn’t just about how Adonis is doing after his retirement. It is about the connection between two boxers who have both been through so much.
Adonis Creed has already proven himself as a boxer, with a lifelong career of success. His childhood friend Damian Anderson, played by Jonathan Majors, has had a major setback. After serving almost two decades in prison, he has some unfinished business in the ring.
Damian was almost like Adonis’s older brother, leading up to his prison sentence at 18. I thought this relationship made this whole movie that much more interesting.
When Damian finally comes back into Adonis’s life, he wants to prove that he still is the best boxer in the world. A heart-to-heart between Adonis and Damian reveals that Damian is a little upset that someone has been living his life—or at least as he had envisioned it.
The movie really starts to flourish as the connection between these two characters deepens, making it seem as if no time has passed since they were kids. As Adonis starts to invite Damian to places, you can see that Damian isn’t interested in being his friend again; he just wants his life back. In each scene with Damian, you can see the conflict that he is having with himself, fighting between achieving his dream or just being fine with where he is at.
Right when we feel like we have learned everything we need to know about the two characters, the movie brings more emotions into it and pulls at your heart strings. Adonis gets put in a situation where he has to find himself once again.
Through some scenes, you can feel the doubt that Adonis has in himself and the way he is trying to run from his past. But his wife Bianca, played by Tessa Thompson, won’t allow him to run from his emotions, and tells him that he either needs to talk to someone or do what he does best: fight.
When Adonis decides to come out of retirement, we get an amazing training scene from each of the characters. We first get to see Damian train when he has almost nobody supporting him in his training. We see how much willpower Damian has, as well as how much he is willing to give up to achieve his dreams. On the other side, we see Adonis struggle to find his drive to fight once again, bringing every emotion from his past back to light. We see him fight off all the doubt that he has in his mind about his past, becoming the man that he is now.
The final scene is so breathtaking in the way it is shot, and the way the two characters interact throughout the fight is amazing. You can see the struggle from both sides trying to fight for what they believe in most and pushing each other to their limits. Not only are they physically fighting, but you can tell they are also having an emotional battle, which makes this scene so much more moving.
In the end, I thought the movie was great and can’t say that there were many flaws. The movie really keeps you locked in at all times, never giving you a chance to turn away because, if you did, you would feel like you were missing something important. Even with a few scenes that felt a bit unnecessary, the movie was a great watch overall.