“Creed III” arrives as the 9th film in the “Rocky” saga and the first minus Sylvester Stallone.
A sequel to the 2018 “Creed II,” it marks the directing debut of Michael B. Jordan aka Adonis Creed, who also produced.
With virtually nonstop pacing, “Creed III” spotlights its key characters: Adonis, now retired in regal Hollywood splendor, his rock star wife Bianca (Tessa Thompson) whose hearing loss meant the end of that career and the surprising reappearance of Adonis’ teenage best bud Damian Anderson (Jonathan Majors) who is just released after 18 years behind bars and is, to put it mildly, a bit bitter.
Jordan, 36, credits his mentor, the writer-director Ryan Coogler, with his step into directing. Coogler made Jordan a star in “Fruitvale Station” (2013), the first “Creed” in 2013 and Marvel’s global blockbuster “Black Panther.”
“Ryan told me I could direct,” Jordan recalled during a virtual press conference. “There was a moment when I was in awe of what he was doing — a Black man my age commanding a set with ‘Fruitvale Station’ — and see what was possible. He’d tell me, ‘Mike you can do this, too.’
“I didn’t know what movie I’d step behind the camera for. As we grew into the third one it seemed the perfect time and opportunity to step behind the camera.”
Jordan prepared by consulting Coogler of course, along with Hollywood heavyweights Bradley Cooper and Denzel Washington. “I really wanted to talk to actor-directors. Knowing I was going to be behind and in front of the camera, those people had success doing it. That helped inform me on what to expect.”
Ultimately, he knew, “You have to just get in there and live it.”
With a film that boasts a Mexican-American boxing champ, youthful flashbacks and implacable vengeance, Jordan asked himself: “What’s your style going to be?
“You overthink yourself trying to create your own visual language. Then you realize, just show up and be honest every day and slowly your style will shape itself.
“The movie is a representation of my truth – things that move me in a visual way.”
Jordan knows, “There are scenes on the editing floor that had to be ripped from my fingers! But you worry about running time, pacing and you listen at test-screenings and it gets a life of its own. Then you have to let it be its best version of itself.”
That means that “Creed III” is ultimately the result of meshing many visions, a picture that aims to please not just its creator but the audience.
“Creed III” opens Friday