Creed 'Spoiler Free' Movie Review

     I grew up on Rocky Balboa. In my opinion the first Rocky is easily one of the top 10 films of all time. I have loved all of the Rocky films my whole life. The original Rocky won best picture the year that I was born. I grew up on Rocky. I have seen every Rocky film countless times. I love them all, all of them, even Rocky 5. To me Rocky Balboa can do no wrong. So when I heard they were making a Rocky spin-off about Rocky training Apollo Creed's son I  was already very excited.     When you are that excited for a film it can be a bad thing because your expectations are so high that almost nothing could possibly live up to. You have already made your own theories of what the movie will be like and in all of them it is amazing. If this movie isn't just as good or better than the movies you made up in your own imagination you're going to be disappointed. Let me start by saying if you are afraid that I am going to say that Creed is one of those movies let me put you at ease by telling you that it was a great film. It was well written, terrifically acted, perfectly paced, and directed while staying loyal to the subject matter and still being it's own thing. My wildest fantasies of what the film would turn out to be like were blown away.     Let me start off by talking about the performance by Michael B. Jordan as Apollo Creed's illegitimate son, Adonis. He's amazing. He channels just enough of Carl Weathers Apollo Character through in his portrayal of the young light heavyweight contender who seeks out his father's old nemesis and eventual best friend Rocky Balboa to train him to make you start to believe he actually might be Carl's son. He is that believable as Creed's son and also believable as a boxer. You could see the work the actor had done to truly become Adonis Creed. Then you have Sylvester Stallone as Rocky Balboa which is always great and this time was no different. My favorite scenes were the ones with the two of them together. Their chemistry was as good or better that the chemistry between Rocky and Apollo and as a result the movie turned out great.     I loved this movie. It lived up to and surpassed everything I had imagined and also it stood on its own as well. I have to say I was surprised when there were no Oscar nominations for Ryan Coogler or Michael B. Jordan. I was sure that there would be. It was that good. I am looking forward to seeing what comes next in the Creed franchise and what direction the story takes. Jordan, Coogler, and Stallone have agreed to more so we should hopefully see more soon. Go see it, it's well worth the ticket price.