Creed: Movie Review

A sequel to the Rocky movies, Creed is about the youngest son of the legendary fictional boxer who first fought Rocky, Apollo Creed, who comes to Philadelphia to be trained by Rocky Balboa himself. Creed has a strong Christian, moral worldview, with an underlining story about forgiveness, but there is some foul language, boxing violence and some other immoral content.

Adonis Johnson never knew his father, Apollo Creed, because he was the product of an affair. Apollo was killed in the boxing ring by Dolf Lundgren's character, in the third Rocky movie. Adonis went into multiple foster homes, community homes and even juvenile detention. One day, however, Apollo Creed’s wife, Mary Anne, adopts him. Mary Anne tells Adonis that his father was her husband, Apollo Creed. (For more of the plot, go to movieguide.org.)

Creed is a very entertaining movie with a lot of heart. Within the first few minutes, audiences will be invested in the story. The script is good, but there are a few cheesy actors. Even so, not only will you laugh, but audiences will also cry and root for Rocky and Adonis. There are definitely clear references to prior Rocky films, so the Rocky lovers will enjoy that, but you don’t have to have seen the past films to understand this one.

Creed has a strong Christian, moral worldview. The movie extols prayer and forgiveness, which becomes a major theme. Also, the main characters care for each other and give to one another, even though they aren’t necessarily family members. That said, strong caution is advised for Creed. The lead character sleeps with his girlfriend before marriage. The girlfriend does confront him and say she needs more commitment, so they decide to be more serious. Also, there is lots of boxing violence, of course, with some blood. The violence includes a pretty bad eye injury for Adonis. Creed also contains too much foul language.