Sylvester Stallone’s latest boxing drama puts viewers through the wringer

“CREED” costars Jordan and Stallone WARNER BROS. PICTURES

In “Creed,” Sylvester Stallone’s seventh screen outing as legendary pugilist Rocky Balboa isn’t without its cornball contrivances, but director Ryan Coogler allows Sly and Michael B. Jordan to go the distance with scenes that they can truly sink their thespic teeth into. Jordan portrays Adonis Johnson, the bastard son of Apollo Creed (Carl Weathers in “Rocky II”), Rocky’s former boxing rival.

The movie is more a spinoff than a sequel as it follows how Donnie, a young and self-taught brawler, is rescued from a juvenile facility by Apollo’s wife, Mary Anne (Phylicia Rashad), and grows up deciding to leave a life of relative luxury (and white-collar tedium) behind to pursue a career in professional boxing—and he wants Rocky to train him!

Reluctant to get back into boxing, Rocky finds Donnie’s “inexplicable” passion for the violent sport hard to fathom, because the young man’s father, whom Donnie never met, was killed in the ring during his disheartening duel with Ivan Drago (Dolph Lundren in “Rocky IV”) 30 years ago.

Is Donnie harboring a death wish? Rocky asks the impassioned young man, “Why would you like a fighter’s life if you don’t have to?”

Wanting to make all of his punches count—in the ring and off—the former boxer’s persistent ward snaps back, “To prove that I’m not a mistake!”

Coogler (“Fruitvale Station”) tells a generic but well-told tale as we see Donnie’s chosen new world unfurl into compelling complexity.

The film’s tone lurches between subtle genre-tweaking and crowd-pleasing protege-mentor drama (think “The Karate Kid”), leavened by the unconventional romance between Creed and musician Bianca (Tessa Thompson), who has her own cross to bear—she’s suffering from a progressive form of hearing loss!

The movie is incisive and sharp-witted, and while it wears its heart on its sleeve, it doesn’t take its deus ex machina moments too seriously, treating its Daniel and Mr. Miyagi-channeling sequences with wit and frothy grace—and a winking sense of humor.

“Creed” offers a persuasive look at the downside of the bloody sport and how its violent nature takes its toll on its battered practitioners.

It presents the actioner’s mandatory elements in fresh and surprising ways, and manages to avoid the pitfalls of a preach-and-teach exposition by adding a light comic touch to sequences that display its protagonists’ real emotions.

MICHAEL B. Jordan

Do-or-die urgency

The fight scenes are well-staged and inventively choreographed, with a do-or-die urgency that Pinoy boxing films like “Kid Kulafu” fail to capture. They’re guaranteed to put viewers through the wringer!

Jordan rises above the ruins of Josh Trank’s calamitous “Fantastic Four” and gets his red-hot career back on track with a performance that showcases his smoldering screen presence and continually evolving dramatic chops. But it’s Stallone, recently declared best supporting actor by the National Board of Review, who delivers the drama’s biggest knockout punch.

The 69-year-old action icon lends an understated charm to his role (though he still slurs and mumbles his lines), turning in a heart-pinching portrayal that is neither self-indulgent nor exceedingly schmaltzy—even after his character is diagnosed with blood cancer.

When Rocky visits the grave of his departed wife (Talia Shire) and tells her about his woes and how much he misses her, you know that he isn’t just another washed-up ex-boxing champ with nothing to show for it!