Creed was the Rocky sequel we needed after the underwhelming reception of Rocky V. Although Rocky Balboa managed to capture some of the magic of the series back, it was still Creed that got the series back to its feet, introducing a new protagonist in the process. Following Adonis “Donnie” Johnson, son of the legendary Apollo Creed as he meets Rocky Balboa resulting in Rocky assuming the role of mentor and trainer for Donnie. Creed was critically acclaimed and even earned Sylvester Stallone an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor. Now, a sequel is on the way and the new trailer looks like it’s about to tackle familial territory.
The trailer for Creed II features Donnie waking up in a hospital bed, proceeding with a montage accompanied with a voice-over of Rocky providing advice, cutting to a dialogue between them. The dialogue between them indicate a future fight between Donnie and someone who seems to be pretty dangerous according to Rocky. Cut to some montages with Kendrick Lamar played over it along with some dialogue surrounding validation and a visit to a gravestone with the name “CREED” etched on it (presumably Apollo’s) before revealing his opponent with “DRAGO” ascribed on the back of his robe.
Before i get on with it, I just gotta say “HOLY S**T !”. Okay, I’m done. It looks like this one is gonna be a fight between Donnie and the son of Ivan Drago from Rocky IV, the man who killed his father, Apollo in the ring more than 30 years prior. Rocky IV is a classic despite its mixed reception among critics, mostly due to how campy and on-the-nose it can be with its “AMURICA” themes. It’ll be great to see how this is going to play out and the stakes look really high, granted it’s mostly a validation and ego thing but at the end of the day, pride is a consistent theme in the Rocky franchise.
This year is shaping up to be a good one with great films such as A Quiet Place and Isle of Dogs along with pretty of exciting line ups like Fantastic Beast: The Crimes of Grindelwald and Creed II. Can’t wait for this one.
