Unc' Rock

Creed Dir. Ryan Coogler
Michael B. Jordan (Adonis), Sylvester Stallone (Rocky Balboa), Tessa Thompson (Bianca)

MGM, 2015.

Ryan Coogler’s 2015 film Creed is all about the life of Adonis “Donnie” Johnson-Creed, the son of the late fighter Apollo Creed. As we eventually find out in the film Adonis’s “Uncle” is Rocky Balboa. I can honestly say that Adonis somewhat lived the same way as Rocky was. Rocky started from the bottom and in the end made a big name for himself.
Adonis had it rough growing up, if not rougher than Rocky. Adonis was very disconnected with his mother and lived in a juvenile detention facility where he frequently part took in altercations. His mom got him out of there eventually, and then he became a successful businessman. After he resigned from there he flew to Philadelphia with one goal in mind: fight like daddy. Better yet, who did he eventually convince to train him? Rocky Balboa; the man who dethroned his father a number of years ago.

Adonis and Rocky became inseparable; they trained together, they ate together, and they lived together. Rocky built Donnie into the type of fighter he was. He even brought him to his old training facility. Donnie persevered through his first fight against Leo Sporino. When word got out that he was the blood of the former champion of the world, Adonis gained a lot of attention. He did not want this attention, in fact he wanted to build his own legacy, and he did. English punch-for punch- fighter Ricky “Pretty Ricky” Conlan eventually contacted Rocky and Donnie, asking to fight. His reason was because he thought it would be great financially, and he wanted to prove that Adonis was only a good fighter because of his last name. Donnie had other plans; when he fought Ricky, he went the distance. He did not win, but he went a full 12 rounds with the champion of the world. He proved that yes he was a Creed, but he was not Apollo 2.0 he was Adonis. He gained a lot of respect from Ricky after the fight as well. None of this would not have happened if Adonis did not have one thing: Heart. Through his heart, desire, dedication, and hardwork he was able to achieve what for many would be impossible.

Every main character has one or two people that have a huge influence on their life. Adonis had two people who really kept him going: Rocky and Bianca.

Adonis called Rocky “unc” short for uncle, and he did everything with him. Without Rocky, I do not think Adonis would of made a name for himself as a fighter without Rocky’s help. When Rocky was diagnosed with non-hodgkins lymphoma (a form of cancer) Adonis wanted nothing more than for Rocky to battle the cancer. Rocky did not want to because his former wife (Adrian) died from chemotherapy. Donnie made a deal with Rocky “if I fight Pretty Ricky, you fight cancer.”

Right after he started up in Philly Adonis met his neighbor Bianca who immensely fell in love with. He lied to her at first though; he did not tell her that his father was the great Apollo Creed. She did not know that she could trust him, but he won her back. They had many downs like when he embarrassed her after fighting someone at her show hours after finding out Rocky had cancer. She did not want to talk to him for awhile, but in the end, she was the one there to support him at his biggest fight of his life.

They say “you cannot choose your family”, but in all aspects you can, and Creed proved that was correct. Yes, Apollo loved his mother after they became connected during his teenage years, but Rocky was the one he loved most (besides Bianca) and he was not related to him at all. This was an outstanding piece of work by Ryan Coogler, and I am very anxious to see what Creed 2 had in store for us.