By Mark Fields

The Rocky mythology has persisted and entertained (off and on) for 45 years, and the latest entry, Creed III, is entertaining enough, while also showing some of the thread-bare tropes of this now fully-familiar tale. Michael B. Jordan continues his portrayal of Adonis Creed, who has parlayed his boxing prowess into a comfortable, affluent routine with his singer-producer wife Bianca (Tessa Thompson) and precocious daughter Amara (Mila Davis-Kent). This is rudely interrupted by a figure from Adonis’ troubled youth, Damien (Jonathan Majors). Adonis’ guilt over the different paths his and Damien’s lives have taken sets up a boxing match between the two aging athletes with history. Jordan also directs the film, and he understands the payoffs the audience is looking for: rousing training montages, personal issues spilling into the fight sequences, and numerous namechecks from the Rocky legend. This franchise is still standing, if staggering in the ring . . . we’ll have to wait a little longer before someone declares a TKO.

Mark Fields
Mark Fields has reviewed movies for Out & About since October 2008. In addition, he has written O&A profiles of documentarian Harry Shearer and actress Aubrey Plaza. Over the years, Mark also has written on film for several publications in Pennsylvania, Michigan, and his home state of Indiana, where he also served as on-air movie critic for Indianapolis’s public radio station. Mark was an adjunct instructor of film history at Rowan University from 1998 to 2018. A career arts administrator, he retired in fall 2021 after 16 years as an executive at Wilmington’s Grand Opera House. Mark now leads bike tours part-time and is working on a screenplay. He lives in Trolley Square with his partner Wendy. Mark spent the fastest 22 minutes of his life as an unsuccessful contestant on Jeopardy…sadly, there were no movie questions.