kevin de jesus
Creed
Directed by Ryan Coogler
What’s in a name? The name you inherit, the one you give yourself, the one other people give you and the one you are remembered by: some of these are earned ,awarded and, others you fight against your entire life. The naming of names is the theme of the seventh film in the Rocky Balboa story, as the iconic hero solemnly defers to the legacy he has created, both directly and inadvertently, for younger blood with dreams of glory in the boxing ring. This film is directed and co-written by Ryan Coogler (“Fruitvale Station”), who so wisely and effectively creates the newest chapter as a crisis of self for the featured players who are caught between how they are perceived, how they will be remembered and the crux of identity in the midst of fame.
First of all, Coogler’s direction was brilliant, less from the perspective of the audience and more an out-of-body experience of the title character: the illegitimate son of late boxing champion Apollo Creed. We see Adonis Johnson (Michael B. Jordan) as he sees himself; we are in the vacuum of his mind as he struggles between the joy he gets from boxing and the anger which forces him to constantly fight. From the beginning scene of Apollo’s widow, Mary Anne (a fantastically poised and commanding Phylicia Rashad), asking the young Adonis from the confines of a cell in juvenile hall why he has been angry for so long, we watch the boy’s hand tighten to a fist and relax, as if he has to constantly find his core strength. Mary Anne takes the orphan home with her, as his mother has passed away and he has had to survive group homes and incarceration for most of his young life. She has seen the fame and glory bestowed on her late husband, and also survived the reality of his trainings, injuries and eventual death in the ring. Adonis lost Apollo, too, and that ties them together.
Fast-forward about 10 years and Adonis is an educated, ambitious young man rising up in his job. He is also a self-taught, cocky, hot-headed, impetuous fighter moonlighting in Tijuana matches. Like a gifted student satisfied with earning a C because he hasn’t been challenged yet, Adonis has won all of his 16 matches, but he hasn’t ventured beyond “barroom brawling,” as a trainer puts it. The rage Adonis handily keeps at the surface hides a potent fear of being abandoned (again), of being forgotten and of being someone’s regret. That underlying fear turns his hunger sour and more experienced fighters can spot his weakness easily through all the pomp and bluster.
Jordan’s visceral and magnetic performance show the steady pressure building inside his character that is equal parts Apollo and Rocky: he has the former’s bravura but lacks his polish, and his self-doubt and bullheadedness resemble the latter in his younger days.
Remember, in the first “Rocky,” Balboa was a loan shark and small-time hood, but not by choice. He wasn’t educated and had difficulty in social situations, preferring to lone it with his pal Paulie and playfully torment Paulie’s sister, Adrian, with terrible jokes. Rocky fought because that was his life, but he never sat easy on the throne the way Apollo did — he needed the security of the neighborhood and distrusted the politics of show friends and show business. While Adonis retains his father’s intelligence, he needs the approval of the community, of kids who see him on the street and in the ring.
As the specter of his father looms over his life’s dream, Adonis seeks out Rocky Balboa back in Philadelphia to try to figure out the man behind the myth. Like the HBO Sports episode that claims “people find hope in the tales of their heroes,” Mary Anne tells him the gritty details of a fighter’s life outside the ring, but only Rocky can tell him what was inside. Trying to convince the old bulldog, however, isn’t easy considering what Balboa has been through and lost. “Why would you pick a fighter’s life when you don’t have to?” he asks the young man, “I got other plans in my life. This wasn’t part of it.” Later on, we see how the older man is coasting very similarly to the younger.
Coogler doesn’t forget Rocky Balboa. He isn’t the main character here but he is the foundation for the young man’s future, and along with co-screenwriter Aaron Covington, Coogler continues the story of a life that has seen the zenith and the nadir of love, wealth and fame. Self-aware of his own strengths and limitations, Rocky Balboa feels his way through life as a means to overcome learning difficulties and lack of education. He can sense when someone is lying to him, when a good friend is around, when someone still has the hunger of the street and when a young man is afraid of everything crashing down.
Coogler absorbs Rocky’s knowledge of the streets and the community, the gym and the ring, the hunger and the fire, and creates three distinct rhythms swirling around and through Balboa, Adonis, and the girl downstairs, Bianca (Tessa Thompson). Not content as a plaything, sex object or girl Friday, Bianca is a fighter in her own right, creating and performing her own music with a ferocity honed through darkened clubs and basement dives, jostling for her place among the Philly musical greats. Thompson’s character employs the same no-nonsense drive on Adonis that Adrian did for Rocky and she has reason to run from regret. As the pace and the music of Bianca’s scenes are pounding but warm, thick and slow, we see the halting, pensive beats of Rocky’s rhythm in responding to people, either verbally or physically. He takes his time in answering and talks to himself, analyzing the situation and figuring the course. His theme music is stripped down to a single piano, illustrating the solitary life he has. Adonis leaps among all the different cadences as his training with Rocky and relationship with Bianca intensifies. The scene where the neighborhood kids surround and encourage him on their speed bikes is the pressure buster we have been anticipating and his exhilaration is our own.
Rhythm extends to the ring, as Maryse Alberti’s camerawork during Adonis’s fights is amazingly fluid as the sound reduces to the bare bones of the fighters’ interactions, echoing the adrenaline rush and instinctive drive when the human body is at its highest level. Rocky was right: Adonis has to fight himself and Coogler’s direction communicates this in a way that is heartbreaking when he gets down and joyous when he breaks through. This was one of my favorite surprises of the year. (A)
