'Creed III' belongs to Jonathan Majors and almost no one else
By Carl Svahn | February 28It feels unfair to mention “Rocky” (1976) when discussing “Creed III” (2023). As the first film in the boxing franchise without the Italian Stallion in any capacity (minus a producing credit), it’s clear from the get-go that this is the beginning of the post-”Rocky” era for the, until now, aptly named “Rocky” series. It was an inevitable transition, and who better to lead it than Adonis Creed (Michael B. Jordan) himself behind the director’s chair? Yet, for a film that is so clearly trying to move in its own path, it cannot help but continue to dwell in the past. “Creed III” feels like an unmade sequel to the first “Creed” (2015) — what “Creed II” (2018) would have been without Stallone or Russians — and except for an incredible performance from Jonathan Majors as the film’s antagonist, it falls just short of its predecessors.
