Creed Review

I am a big fan of the Rocky movie series. I have enjoyed watching the evolving story of Rocky Balboa from starting out as a small-time boxer to a well-respected champion in the boxing community, through to retirement reminiscing about past glories to the customers and friends in the restaurant he owns. The series itself has been ongoing for over 40 years and still manages to feel new, fresh and exciting with every instalment released.

Today I will be reviewing the 2015 reboot/ continuation of the franchise Creed directed by Ryan Coogler. The film centres around Adonis the illegitimate son of boxer Apollo Creed played by Michael B. Jordan, who is adopted by Apollo’s widow Mary Ann played by Phylicia Rashad. One day Adonis tells Mary Ann that he wants to become a boxer like his father, but Mary would not support him fearing that what happened to her husband would happen again. He moves away to follow his ambition, eventually persuading Rocky to train him. Adonis then wins his first fight and signs up for his second fight with the champion Ricky Conlan played by Tony Bellew. After months of training Adonis is ready to fight against Conlan.

The film's director is Ryan Coogler, before this movie Coogler was not a very well-known director, he had only done one feature-length film and a few shorts. So, stepping into a huge franchise such as Rocky is a pretty big step. Regardless, Coogler took to the challenge and came up with a film that not only drove the series into a new direction but took time to pay homage to the films that came before.

The films cast was important with old faces such as Sylvester Stallone reprising the role as Rocky Balboa and Mary Ann Creed played by Phylicia Rashad along with new arrivals   Adonis Creed played by Michael B. Jordan and his girlfriend Bianca played by Tessa Thompson. These two characters were good additions to this ongoing franchise as they reflect Rocky and his future wife Adrian from the first movie as Adonis’s and Bianca’s relationship is similar to Rocky and Adrian’s they both feel like outsiders who get to know each other as the story progresses.

Technically the film mainly has mid-shots and close-ups in its camerawork with occasional shaky cams and a continuous mid- shot near the start of the third act, the boxing match in the ring is mainly mid-close-ups of the character making you feel part of the action as you see every punch close up. The film's lighting is low key giving it a more grounded and realistic tone.

The film's soundtrack was composed by Ludwig Göransson, who would later compose the score for Black Panther which was also directed by Ryan Coogler. The soundtrack celebrates the old and the new with new tracks and themes for the new characters, with renditions of tracks from the original Rocky soundtrack composed by Bill Conti.

Overall, Creed is a good addition to this long and ongoing franchise which has no sign of stopping. The film is well written with new additions that will hopefully be remembered for years to come just like the original characters are today.

I would give Creed an 8/10- A good continuation of the franchise which will lead the series into a new direction for years to come.

The sequel Creed II is currently playing in cinemas, I have not seen it yet but look out for my review when I do see the film.

Aquaman Review

Happy New Year everyone. It hasn't been too long since my last review (which is quite a surprise) so to start the year off I am going to review a film that everyone thought would be terrible but turned out to be a fairly decent and enjoyable action movie. If you couldn't tell by the title its Aquaman DC's latest film in there universe, after Justice League flopped at the box office, the future of the DCEU was very uncertain with movies being added and actors quitting due to other contracts it all looked like a mess and then this movie came along and surprised a lot of people.

The film's plot is set after Justice League as Arthur Curry is told to stop his brother from conducting a war on the surface by obtaining a trident held by the first king of Atlantis in order to become the one true king of Atlantis and stop his brother from making war with the surface. The film also has a strong cast to it with reprising roles from Jason Momoa as Arthur Curry/ Aquaman and Amber Heard as Mera. There also many new arrivals such as King Orm/ Ocean Master played by Patrick Wilson, Vulko played by Willem Dafoe, Tom Curry played by Temuera Morrison, Dolph Lundgren as King Nereus, Black Manta played by Yahya Abdul- Mateen II and Queen Atlanna played by Nicole Kidman.

The film's director is James Wan who is famous for directing horror franchises like Saw and The Conjuring universe and also famous for directing some of the Fast and Furious instalments. So he has experience in both the action and horror genres which shows in the film as there are well-shot fight scenes and a very tense scene towards the third act of the movie.

The things I liked about the movie were Patrick Wilson's performance as Ocean Master as he plays a good villain and we understand his motivation for the war against the surface, The fight scenes were well shot as like the Marvel Netflix show Daredevil it has it in one continuous shot and as a result its the best fight scenes that I've ever seen in a superhero movie. Also the soundtrack by Rupert Gregson- Williams is amazing as you get to feel the mystery and beauty of the world that Aquaman lives in.

However, the problem I found with the movie was that some scenes felt a little rushed such as one scene in the first act where there is a giant wave coming towards Aquaman and his dad and after that, he decides to join Mera and Vulko to stop Orm from making war. The reason I say this is rushed is that it comes out of nowhere and just happens however the scene does not change the plot of the movie that much.

Overall, Aquaman is a decent and enjoyable movie to watch with great performances, amazing soundtrack, impressive CGI for a DC movie and outstanding fight scenes. This definitely makes me want to watch more of this character and am interested to see what the future of the DCEU or Worlds of DC or whatever its called is going to look like with films such as Shazam in April which might be Henry Cavill's last film as Superman although don't take my word on that, and Joaquin Phoenix's Joker Movie directed by Todd Philips in October and of course Wonder Woman 1984 next year and possibly the Flashpoint movie the year after that (I know it might actually happen). 

I would give Aquaman an 8/10- well-shot action scenes, great performances, however, some scenes felt a little weird. Also, Black Manta was kinda there he didn't really do much apart from setting up a sequel.