Creed II was a big hit this weekend at the box office with a total Wednesday to Sunday gross of $55 million, making it the best American Thanksgiving opening ever for a live action film. That’s a record. And it’s Michael B Jordan’s second record-breaking movie this year. I know I don’t have to tell you about his (scene-stealing) work in Black Panther to begin 2018. He’s closing the year with another huge win that’s a solid achievement on its own but it might also help with that Best Supporting Actor Oscar campaign. He definitely has a shot at it. They’d be voting for both performances.
I saw Creed II with Kathleen on Friday night. She mentioned her bias in her review last week. I too am biased when it comes to Rocky/Creed. Because Rocky IV is my favourite Rocky. And Creed II is an extension of Rocky IV. Which is why, OBVIOUSLY, I had a great time. Look, I’m never, ever, ever going to complain about a training montage. Ever.
Drago trained on a computer and ran around an indoor track in a white leotard. Rocky ran through the snow in boots and a leather jacket and saved a horse and dragged Pauly on a sled. Rocky chopped down a tree! He climbed a SIBERIAN MOUNTAIN!
That f-cking training montage was over 7 minutes long LOLOLOLOL. Don’t lie, you want to watch it now, don’t you? I’ve embedded it below. The training montage in Creed II is not as indulgent or excessive. But it’s still GLORIOUS. Do not let me hear you complaining about Michael B Jordan flexing his perfect body and dripping in sweat. It’s the holiday season. They’re giving us what we want. What is your problem?!?
MBJ has no problems right now. We’ve been waiting for MBJ to come into this year for years. And for years now we’ve been talking about the death of the Movie Star, how there are fewer and fewer of them, how they just don’t come around anymore. Michael B Jordan though?
Movie Star.
This has been building for a while. But Creed II makes it undeniable. You cannot come out of that movie and not say to yourself, yeah, I just watched a Movie Star. This is a Movie Star we’ll be watching for a long, long time. You cannot take your eyes off of him. The charisma pops off the screen. He is as big as the story needs him to be and that is one of the intangible gifts of a Movie Star, that’s what’s hard to manufacture: a Movie Star rises and expands to the hype. This is what made Tom Cruise, and Julia Roberts, and Denzel Washington, and Jennifer Lawrence – they all were able to fit into an impossibly big spotlight and sometimes they even made it look small. Michael B Jordan also has that gift. And if you love pop culture, these are the increasingly rare moments you wait for: when a Movie Star takes their place in the celebrity ecosystem, few things in entertainment are as exciting. Creed is now a proper non-superhero franchise. Like Die Hard. And Mission: Impossible. And Jurassic. Creed III is inevitable. There might even be a Creed IV. Because, you know, Rocky can’t live forever. And how is Adonis going to deal with that? MBJ, Movie Star, is officially the face of a movie franchise.
Here’s a Twitter thread related to MBJ that made me laugh this weekend. Did you see the tweet from the girl who was looking for the friend she’d made on a cruise when they were kids? That inspired a copycat tweet, in search of…well… the same, I guess.
And, as promised, that training montage:
