Movie Review: Creed

Rocky Balboa (Sylvester Stallone) and Adonis Creed (Michael B Jordan) in Creed.

Creed is not a movie that could be called unpredictable.

This spin-off from the Rocky franchise follows Adonis, the illegitimate son of dead boxer Apollo Creed, as he's rescued from a juvenile home where he is "always fighting" by the boxer's widow (not his own mother).

Adonis starts climbing the corporate ladder (while moon-lighting in illegal fights in Mexico), but soon decides an office job isn't for him and that his future lies in the boxing ring.

After an early sharp blow to the ego, he departs LA for the mean streets of Philadelphia to seek out his father's old nemesis-turned-friend Rocky Balboa (Stallone in an outstanding performance).

Adonis (Michael B. Jordan) has his dead mother's surname as he never met his father and wants to make it on his own merits. Boxing promoters, seeing dollar signs from the son of Apollo Creed stepping into the ring with Balboa in his corner, see things differently.

While much of the plot is predictable and the dialogue will never win any prizes, there are plenty of references to the Rocky movies - old school chicken-chasing as fight training, anyone? - and the fight scenes, while still a little far-fetched, are nowhere near as unrealistic as those of the over the top originals.

It's Hollywood and artistic licence lets a man be knocked out cold and then spring to his feet within 10 seconds without the referee turning a hair, but Creed is still an enjoyable, not too taxing, watch.