My date had free passes to see Creed tonight, so, without giving away details/spoilers here goes.
First, there were 3 people who were on The Wire in this movie - love seeing Wire folks getting work. Michael B. Jordan (Wallace), Wood Harris (Avon Barksdale) & Brian A. Wilson (Det. Holly - light skinned big dude, always looks pissed or irritated, lol)
I'd give it a solid 4 of 5 stars, 7.5 to 8 out of 10 just for the sake of the highly unlikely/unusual/unrealistic rise from nowhere to COMING FOR THE NUMBER ONE SPOT!
Anyone who knows anything about boxing knows that you go for years - YEARS fighting every fucking weekend, including the sparring and battling during the week just to get a peek at an undercard, so a guy coming in from unknown off the street to one fight and headlining vs the #1 guy is like Glenn surviving the fall without any bites/scratches and coming home to Maggie unharmed - yeah right.
Aside from that, it played predictable parts well. The girl, hottie Tessa Thompson, was predictable, but the meeting is understandable and natural once you see the it...they point it out, and no, I'm not gonna tell you (trying to do this spoiler free). How Rocky places something in his jacket pocket (not telling you what) and it being discovered by Creed. Saw it coming from a mile away. The whole, "you fight, I fight" was also hanging curveball, but I didn't mind it. There were a couple more, but like I said they were well done, well played/placed as to make this a bad watch.
The acting is great and natural throughout. No one played like a rookie. All of the actors blocked as if they'd been actors for a long time, and everyone looked the part in the way of acting. Also, no line reading, lip moving - that I saw - or "double-dutching" where you can tell an actor is waiting, like playing double-dutch trying to find his spot to jump in. Great casting/directing as to have natural actors to where even the rookies are professionals.
Also, the love story played naturally and didn't seem forced. The transition from LA to Philly seemed forced a bit and looks like a bit was left on the cutting room floor, but the story was Creed boxing, not his BS LA job and how he left Hollywood to get to Philly so I give that a pass.
The bad: Boxing is way too fast for me, and watching a bout I have to rewind often to see the shot I missed because it moves so fast for my eyes - I'm a stare-seer. Boxing fans will be pissed at how many times Creed throws what I think is a left cross and leaves himself WIDE-THE-FUCK open every time. Dude doesn't put up his hands right the whole movie and no one tells him a damned thing about it. No way he should have come anywhere in the vicinity of a title shot with that huge defect in his game.
Also, the two guys Creed fight don't look like they trained AT ALL. I mean no definition - shit they look like me with a little less stomach. Creed is cut and solid, but the other dudes look like they went to the Terrance Howard school of work out procedures. Okay, not that bad. They aren't pudgy, but damn I expected them to look like boxers who worked out or trained and they really didn't.
The comedy was there and great. Rocky got that old man subtly funny thing down pat and it works. The chemistry between the cast was really good - I didn't get any unnatural feeling. I loved the ending, and I'm a little mad that I can't go more into it without spoiling it. You will not be disappointed, and I think that you will be pleased.
Godofwine rating:
First, there were 3 people who were on The Wire in this movie - love seeing Wire folks getting work. Michael B. Jordan (Wallace), Wood Harris (Avon Barksdale) & Brian A. Wilson (Det. Holly - light skinned big dude, always looks pissed or irritated, lol)
I'd give it a solid 4 of 5 stars, 7.5 to 8 out of 10 just for the sake of the highly unlikely/unusual/unrealistic rise from nowhere to COMING FOR THE NUMBER ONE SPOT!
Anyone who knows anything about boxing knows that you go for years - YEARS fighting every fucking weekend, including the sparring and battling during the week just to get a peek at an undercard, so a guy coming in from unknown off the street to one fight and headlining vs the #1 guy is like Glenn surviving the fall without any bites/scratches and coming home to Maggie unharmed - yeah right.
Aside from that, it played predictable parts well. The girl, hottie Tessa Thompson, was predictable, but the meeting is understandable and natural once you see the it...they point it out, and no, I'm not gonna tell you (trying to do this spoiler free). How Rocky places something in his jacket pocket (not telling you what) and it being discovered by Creed. Saw it coming from a mile away. The whole, "you fight, I fight" was also hanging curveball, but I didn't mind it. There were a couple more, but like I said they were well done, well played/placed as to make this a bad watch.
The acting is great and natural throughout. No one played like a rookie. All of the actors blocked as if they'd been actors for a long time, and everyone looked the part in the way of acting. Also, no line reading, lip moving - that I saw - or "double-dutching" where you can tell an actor is waiting, like playing double-dutch trying to find his spot to jump in. Great casting/directing as to have natural actors to where even the rookies are professionals.
Also, the love story played naturally and didn't seem forced. The transition from LA to Philly seemed forced a bit and looks like a bit was left on the cutting room floor, but the story was Creed boxing, not his BS LA job and how he left Hollywood to get to Philly so I give that a pass.
The bad: Boxing is way too fast for me, and watching a bout I have to rewind often to see the shot I missed because it moves so fast for my eyes - I'm a stare-seer. Boxing fans will be pissed at how many times Creed throws what I think is a left cross and leaves himself WIDE-THE-FUCK open every time. Dude doesn't put up his hands right the whole movie and no one tells him a damned thing about it. No way he should have come anywhere in the vicinity of a title shot with that huge defect in his game.
Also, the two guys Creed fight don't look like they trained AT ALL. I mean no definition - shit they look like me with a little less stomach. Creed is cut and solid, but the other dudes look like they went to the Terrance Howard school of work out procedures. Okay, not that bad. They aren't pudgy, but damn I expected them to look like boxers who worked out or trained and they really didn't.
The comedy was there and great. Rocky got that old man subtly funny thing down pat and it works. The chemistry between the cast was really good - I didn't get any unnatural feeling. I loved the ending, and I'm a little mad that I can't go more into it without spoiling it. You will not be disappointed, and I think that you will be pleased.
Godofwine rating:
Yeah, that was it. 
