Creed II (Blu-ray)

Got this as a gift for my niece, who LOVED this film...may be due to Michael B. Jordan being repeatedly shirtless, but hey, to each their own!

REVIEW OF PRODUCT: This Blu-Ray does not automatically load to the last viewed point and, with no pop-up menu upon loading, forces you to skip through previews before having the option of viewing the movie. Pretty annoying for such a long movie. However, the deleted scenes included in the special features were absolutely heart-wrenching. They included a scene in which Rocky delivers a very moving eulogy to Spider Rico, who Rocky claims was his last living friend from the past, and a post-fight scene in which both Creed and later Rocky interact with the beaten Vicktor Drago and his father, Ivan. It was very touching. I really think these scenes could have been included in the movie at the expense of some of the more overplayed scenes between Creed and Bianca, and are worth the purchase of the movie alone.REVIEW OF MOVIE: This was a tough one, as the nostalgia of seeing Rocky Balboa and Ivan Drago together after 30+ years brings was almost too much to handle. As a devout fan of the Rocky series, I am overjoyed to see the beloved character on screen in modern times. However, in both this and in the first Creed, there is something soiled in the character of Adonis Creed. He carries an anger and resentment around with him that makes him very unlikeable. I wouldn't expect somebody like Rocky to want to be around someone like him if it wasn't for his connection to his father. And Rocky's relationship (or lack of) with his own son, Robert, in this movie seems out of character for him, who has otherwise lost every other family and friend from his past. The casting of Florian Munteanu, though, was absolutely brilliant. Besides being an impressive physical specimen, there is something very human and likable in him. Knowing how Ivan Drago's life turned out following his loss to Rocky 30 years ago was really sad. So, overall, which I struggle with the character who will be carrying on the Rocky franchise, this movie was a nostalgic nod to the past.

I'm a huge Rocky fan. Michael B Jordan is such a great actor. This movie does not disappoint the cast was amazing. I'll watch every creed that comes out. Michael did such a great job with #3.

I really like this movie very much. Thirty years after the Death of the Late Apollo Creed (Carl Weathers) , his son Adonis (Michael B. Jordan) finds out about his father and Rocky Balboa (Sylvester Stallone) . He decides to become a boxer in "Creed" , however he did not win the match. In Creed II he was more trained and had a Title Belt to his name. All of the sudden Drago (Dolph Lundgren) has a son as well, and comes to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and meets Rocky in a small place where he is working. He wants a fight with the son of Apollo and his son. The first time it did not go right because Drago's son cheated with an illegal blow while Adonis was not standing. So Rocky took him somewhere in the desert to train him where he had some of his friends (who looked like they had been in prison) to help him out. He was ready for the fight the second time for sure, because Drago's son had nothing left in the tank and could not defeat Adonis, so the towel was thrown in the ring to stop the fight. That is when Rocky adjusted his hat, looked at Adonis, stretched out his arm with a fist and said: "It's your time" . In the end there was a happy ending on both sides for Adonis Creed and Rocky Balboa.

There were things I really loved and things I really didn't love about this movie. While I absolutely love the idea of Rocky taking Apollo's son under his wing and training him up to heavyweight champ, I also think this might have been the worst installment of the Rocky franchise. Part of that is because I was a boxer, so I can't help knit picking the finer details. But thankfully they did a good job keeping politics out of this movie, which is hard to come by these days.I love that Balboa has taken this kid and carried on the union between Balboa's and Apollo's legend. There are a lot of life lessons to be taken from this story, like how family is the most important thing, and that family doesn't have to be your own bloodline. I especially love the little nostalgic moments that they sprinkle in there. Like when Adonis yells from the corner, "I'm dangerous!" That is actually a throwback to early Rocky when Apollo said the same thing. I love the hard relationship they show between Ivan Drago and his son Viktor. BTW, if you've never seen this movie, Ukraine looks nothing like that now.There were a few things I did not like, and again it's probably because I was immersed in the sport for years. First of all, there's no way Adonis was a heavyweight (he looks more like a Lt Heavy or even Middleweight). But let's pretend that he's actually over 200 lb. Now he's up against this dude that isn't realistic. For Viktor to be so huge and thick, he wouldn't be as quick as he is, and his stamina wouldn't be as good as it is. The dude looks more like an MMA fighter, but I'm trying to let it go, for entertainment's sake. And then the fact that he took on this fight at all--it was just an emotional fight. And every fighter knows you don't take your emotions in the ring with you. I thought it was overzealous of Donny, and even callous of him to expect his mother (who lost her husband to the Drago fight) and his trainer (who lost his best friend to the Drago fight) to support his decision to take this fight. And some of the things they say in the corner....it's not really what a coach is going to be saying to you in between rounds. They're going to be giving you very technical advice, like jab your way in, keep your guard up, watch for him to drop his right hand, etc. Not generic motivational things. I imagine Stallone was up against the wall of "make it entertaining for the general audience to watch" rather than "let's make a story that real boxers will believe."

Must see , good movie!

A movie to be added to you list to keep and looking at.

Purchased all three Creed DVDs for my husband for Christmas. This is his favorite, highly recommend!