Creed is about living in the shadow of a famed predecessor, of feeling bound to the expectations of others. This anxiety is explored through both the film’s story and how that story is told.

Creed is the story of Adonis Creed, the son of boxing great Apollo Creed. His father’s fame and wealth entitled him to a cushy upper-class life, but because he was born from an affair, and after his father’s untimely death on top of that, he spent many of his early years fighting in juvenile detention centers. Even after Apollos’s wife spots him and brings him home to a spacious mansion, Adonis is unsatisfied. He refuses to be merely an heir. He wants to be Adonis Johnson, champion light heavyweight boxer, not Adonis Creed, Apollo’s son who also happens to be pretty good in the ring. Thus he goes to Philadelphia to train under his father’s old friend Rocky Balboa and become his own man.

But Creed is also the story of a sequel trying to make a name for itself. Creed is the seventh Rocky film, and while I may not be familiar with the standard formula, I can still see the familiar beats of an underdog sports drama. So how does a franchise film forge its particular identity? Apparently with stellar direction and acting. I may not know the style of John G. Avildsen, but I figure he didn’t shoot boxing matches in one take. Ryan Coogler keeps the film down-to-earth for the most part, letting the the affective melodrama play out, but he knows how to bring the flash when he needs to. Elite fighters make dramatic entrances. Every punch is a wrecking ball. Michael B. Jordan carries the mantle of the lead role elegantly, and supporting actors Tessa Thompson, Sylvester Stallone, and Phylicia Rashad all add the proper oomph to the drama.

In Greek myth, Adonis was more than just a pretty face. He was occasionally associated with resurrection, a youth taken too soon that returns from the grave. I find the name fitting in this case.