I grew up on the Rocky franchise. I thought it was absolutely brilliant to extend it the way they did — with Stallone as Rocky assuming the Mickey role and training his old rival turned friend Apollo’s son in 2015’s Creed.
Creed did well at the box office, and critically as all the films in the series have, except for whatever Rocky V was. The most financially successful of all, however, was Rocky IV which saw the champ travel to Russia to avenge his friend Apollo, who died in the ring at the hands of Ivan Drago (Dolph Lundgren).
That storyline will extend into the second Creed film, which opens on November 21, and I could not be more excited for all that bad blood and nostalgia that is teased in the latest trailer.
In Rocky IV, Drago has some classic dialogue like, “I must break you,” and “if he dies, he dies.” I would imagine that almost 35 years later, Ivan might have extended his English vocabulary, but we don’t get anything but menacing stares from Lundgren or his son Viktor (Florian Munteanu) during the second trailer. However, what we do get is a clear outline of the plot, a few inspirational speeches, and some stunning visuals—all set to one hell of a musical score.
The storyline for Creed II is no secret, nor does it need to be to be effective. Ultimately, you know the whole movie is going to lead up to an epic fight between Adonis (Michael B. Jordan) and Viktor and it’ll end one of three ways. The trailer illustrates that the champion, Adonis, is challenged by Viktor, and the fight evolves into rewriting history to Adonis, and finally coming to terms with his father’s legacy even if it means risking his life.
In the same way that Rocky’s trainers, friends and family always tried to reason with him and talk him down from fights that they did not feel he could win, Rocky himself now attempts to do the same for the clearly overmatched Adonis. I’m not sure anyone does a better job of showing an internal rage, or emotion in their eyes than Jordan, and it’s on full display throughout here.
The first trailer used Kendrick Lamar’s popular track, “DNA,” to mix in some quick training shots, so how do you top Lamar? With DMX. They really pulled no punches this time breaking into the hit song, “Who We Be” as they flash between images of Adonis with his family, visiting his father’s grave, and training, showing the struggle that his character is facing in deciding what is most important to him. A standing ovation for whoever put this one together because the lyrics and song choice could not fit more perfectly. On top of that, it tapers off into a hint of the Rocky Theme, “Gonna Fly Now,” which made the hairs on my arm stand up.
For me, the sign of a quality trailer is anytime it makes you disappointed as you sit in the theater thinking about the film you are about to watch, and unless they drop a Top Gun 2 trailer soon, I can’t think of anything I’m anticipating more than this one.
-Ben Murchison
Creed II hits theaters on November 21.
