Creed III

I finally had the opportunity to see Creed III yesterday afternoon and I absolutely loved it!  Three years after retiring from boxing, Adonis "Donnie" Creed (Michael B. Jordan) is  enjoying life with his wife Bianca (Tessa Thompson) and daughter Amara (Mila Davis-Kent), is running the Delphi Boxing Academy, and is promoting a fight between the heavyweight champion Felix "El Guerrero" Chavez (Jose Benavidez, Jr.) and Viktor Drago (Florian Munteanu).  An old friend that Donnie boxed with in his youth named Damian "Dame" Anderson (Jonathan Majors) comes back into his life after being released from prison and asks him for a chance at the title.  Donnie tells him that it is impossible but, when Drago is attacked and unable to fight, he convinces Chavez to give Anderson the same opportunity that his father gave Rocky.  Against all odds, Anderson wins the fight to become heavyweight champion but Donnie eventually learns that he manipulated him.  It seems that the two of them have unfinished business and Anderson believes that he should have the life that Donnie has.  He bullies him into coming out of retirement to fight him in an epic match, dubbed the "Battle of Los Angeles."  Donnie struggles to get in shape with "Little Duke" Evers (Wood Harris) and Draco (in a fun training montage that ends with a fantastic Rocky moment above the Hollywood sign) but once he gets in the ring, he is not only fighting Anderson, he is attempting to slay the ghosts of his past. I really enjoyed the story, especially Donnie's fear that he doesn't deserve all that he has because of his troubled past and his determination to see that his daughter doesn't have the childhood that he did (although I wish this was explored more fully).  Jordan is incredibly compelling but Majors is an absolute knock-out in a performance that is both intense and sympathetic (he is becoming one of my favorite actors).  The two of them have tremendous chemistry together and the final resolution between them brought a tear to my eye.  Finally, the fight choreography is amazing and the way that these sequences are filmed is exhilarating.  I especially liked the close-up shots of their eyes and the way the crowd disappears to focus on the intimate showdown happening between two men who used to be friends.  This is, in my opinion, one of the best entries in the franchise and it should not be missed!