The first frame of the original Rocky, as the famous music comes up, the date: November 25, 1975. You probably had to live through the Rocky phenomenon to understand just how big that movie was, what it gave audiences, and why it won the Best Picture Oscar in 1976, besting All the President’s Men, Network, Taxi Driver and Bound for Glory. What most people don’t realize about that year looking back was that Sylvester Stallone – the unlikely lottery winner of that year – never won an Oscar, even though he wrote the script for Rocky.
How could he have beaten William Goldman for All the President’s Men or Paddy Chayefsky for Network? He couldn’t have. Both of those films, and Taxi Driver, launched a thousand filmmakers. A generation of filmmakers wanted to make movies that good, that revered. People like me spent many hours lamenting Rocky’s Best Picture win over the other, presumably better movies. That it won was a thing that the movie forever had to live down.
What those of us who did the complaining neglected to realize is that movies are not made for critics. They’re not made for Oscar bloggers who nitpick their choices. They aren’t made for narcissistic film industry professionals. They’re made for people out there. Rocky deserved to win Best Picture not because it would prove the most lasting, not because it was the highest achievement from an artistic perspective, but because for most people it was the Movie of the Year. It changed real lives. It made people happy. It did what movies are supposed to do. That kind of magic is rarely captured. Now, November 25, 2015 a full 40 years later, Ryan Coogler has brought that magic back. He didn’t do it by remaking Rocky. He did it by telling an original story that works with or without the Rocky/Apollo Creed origin story.
Creed is such a good idea it’s hard to figure out why it hasn’t been made before – why no one ever thought to change the dynamic of what blue collar rags to riches could really look like. Because Coogler knows the Rocky legend so well and assumes we do too, he doesn’t spend a lot of time explaining it to us. Rather, he moves through exposition quickly, smartly, focusing instead on the story of Creed’s forgotten son, Adonis, played by Michael B. Jordan. Bounced in and out of foster care, with no guidance and no parental support, Adonis is rescued by Apollo’s wife, played by Phylicia Rashad. The kid can’t stop fighting so he can’t be placed until she takes him in. He’s a good kid and isn’t ever made to be a bad one, not one who needs “correcting” by anybody. He just needs a little support until he figures out that he was born to fight, which he eventually does.
The original Rocky planted thousands of seeds that turned into dreams in far reaching places all over the country. Some of those dreams came true. Most probably did not. But that was okay because they had Rocky – an unlikely nobody whose dreams came true in a movie one time.
Who would have figured that making Rocky would lead to Rocky II which would be a film Ryan Coogler’s father watched repeatedly, showing it to his wife and then to his young son. Why Rocky II? No cineaste could give a damn about that movie since they could barely give a damn about Rocky. But this kid did. He’s now turned that seed, that dream, that unlikely aftershock of a sequel of a Best Picture winner into a new movie – the 7th film in the Rocky saga and one of the best of the year, Creed.
Creed works because the film keeps it about the relationship between Adonis Creed and Rocky Balboa, brought back with tenderness by Sylvester Stallone, the beating heart of this film, one of the best reasons to see it, and the biggest surprise of it. Coogler could have made this story without Rocky. He has enough material with the mesmerizing Jordan as a young boxer on the rise. But in bringing back Rocky he’s mining his own relationship with his father by paying tribute to what his father loved. The relationship between these two lost souls is so utterly moving you might find yourself weeping throughout, as I did. They are two lonely men who find each other and become each other’s unlikely family. It would not have worked without these two actors playing it so honestly.
The actors and the director rescue what could have been a film riddled with cliches and fighter film tropes. The tenderness Stallone brought to the first Rocky returns again here. Coogler also notes the tenderness and sweetness of Rocky and Adrien’s relationship in the first film and revives that, too, with Jordan and newcomer Tessa Thompson (in a well-written supporting female role, for a change). Stallone’s humility is really what drives his performance, easily among the year’s standouts.
The film’s truly exceptional moments come from its fight scenes, which will surely elevate Coogler from the pack as a director. Working with cinematographer Maryse Alberti the camera brings us right into the fight in some of the best filmmaking to ever capture the sport. Coogler has probably spent many years imagining just how he would film those scenes and that focus and concentration has paid off. They will leave you breathless.
The 1970s are being brought back on a wave of nostalgia this year. Is it because movies have stopped making a difference in the lives of people the way they used to? Is it because Hollywood has been so focused on telling stories of white Americans they kind of forgot that it’s a bigger world out there? Creed isn’t a film that focuses on Race. The idea of being black or white isn’t ever really brought up because in this world it doesn’t seem to matter anymore. What matters is what has always mattered in the Rocky universe. Someone who is underestimated by everybody gets their one shot.
Creed shows what Ryan Coogler can really do as a filmmaker. While much of it was there in evidence with Fruitvale Station, in Coogler’s debut it was much more restrained, as though he was afraid of going overboard, doing too much. But here, he blazes behind the camera, shooting the fight scenes with a kind of energy that hasn’t really been seen since Scorsese did it with Raging Bull.
There are a hundred different ways Creed could have gone wrong. There are also going to be plenty of poker faced critics judging it by standards that really only matter to them. There is no way any one person can explain to you what it feels like to sit down and watch a film like this. It’s just that, simply, sometimes the magic comes.
Creed is as much a celebration of the Rocky mythology as it is a celebration of boxing films, and of movies overall – how they have the power to transport us far from where we sit and into a dream machine reserved for the big screen, a dark theater, and those who wander in from lives that could never compare. Those of us brought to this place, with the soft seats and the smell of popcorn, sometimes get the chance to be reminded why people make movies at all. It could be to make money. It could be to win awards. It could be to make careers. Or it could be to dance with the muse, to capture a drifting flame that, when captured, burns brightly. That is what Coogler has done with Creed. He’s made what my friend David Carr used to call a “movie movie.” And in so doing he’s memorialized the film that caused such a stir 40 years ago, rescued it from the depths of sequel hell, and given it a fresh voice for a new generation of kids who are sorely in need of new heroes.
Fine piece! I love ROCKY. The sequels have some merit and some fun but generally lack the magic and tragedy of the first with the sole exception of BALBOA which was *good*. ROCKY –to me– is akin to ORDINARY PEOPLE; they both robbed Scorsese of BP/BD wins, but I have absolutely no contempt for either one. CREED truly sounds special if only because Coogler made it and must have avoided nearly all of Stallone’s excesses. I just saw SPOTLIGHT the other day; colossal Hollywood picture. Also MOCKINGJAY II which was largely disappointing with an incompetent 3rd act. I need to get my act together and fully catch up with American cinema.
Never a fan of Rocky and avoided the sequels like the plague, probably because there were much better films around when the Rocky craze hit initially. BUT… the Coogler/Jordan effort has my undivided attention. Looking forward to getting whiplash from doing a 180 on the series.
Here are the first official Screening dates in several theaters for “THE REVENANT” and “JOY”.
Hi to all on Sasha’s site: I’am sorry to tell you that these Screenings are reserved for ACADEMY MEMBERS mainly.
What a pitty for all of us ! Can’t wait !
1. “THE REVENANT”
Sat. Nov. 28 8:00PM Variety Preview Room San Francisco
Sun. Nov. 29 7:00PM DGA Theatre New York
Mon. Nov. 30 7:00PM AMC Century City 15 (screen 1) Los Angeles
Tue. Dec. 01 7:00PM ArcLight Cinema Hollywood Los Angeles
Wed. Dec. 02 7:30PM ArcLight Cinema Sherman Oaks Los Angeles
Thu. Dec. 03 7:00PM AMC Lincoln Square New York
Thu. Dec. 03 7:30PM AMC Citywalk Stadium 19 Los Angeles
Sat. Dec. 05 3:00PM Fox Preview Theatre Century London
etc. more….
2. “JOY”
Tue. Dec. 01 7:00PM Regal Cinemas Union Square 14 New York
Wed. Dec. 02 7:00PM AMC EMPIRE 25 New York
Wed. Dec. 02 7:00PM 20th Century Fox – Zanuck Los Angeles
Thu. Dec. 03 6:30PM DGA Theatre 2 Los Angeles
Thu. Dec. 03 7:00PM Variety Preview Room San Francisco
Thu. Dec. 03 7:00PM 20th Century Fox – Zanuck Los Angeles
Fri. Dec. 04 7:00PM 20th Century Fox – Zanuck Los Angeles
Mon. Dec. 07 7:30PM Fox Preview Theatre Century London
etc. more….
Mentions of Googler: 9; mentions of Stallone, 4.
The real problem Stallone faces are all the bad movies he’s done over his career. Giving him an Oscar now will make the award look a bit insignificant. I’m not saying that’s the case but Oscar isn’t all that forgiving when it comes to men as it is to beautiful women.
Penelope Cruz, Sandra Bullock, Matthew McConnaghey… nope, if he’s considered to be worthy, his past will be forgiven. Specially since his career focused in movies that made loads of $ and gave people from the technical departments a lot of jobs. If he’s nominated, the technical branches will probably massively vote for him, for the win. Specially given that many people – me, among them – think that he should have probably won back with “Rocky”. But he needs to be nominated, first. If he is, he automatically becomes the frontrunner.
Besides, since Oscars are given for Best of the Year not Best Opus, it should be irrelevant what kind of movies he made outside of role he’s submitted for Oscar consideration. if he made Expendable’s this year but is competing for Creed, Expandables shouldn’t matter. Only Creed role should. I know it isn’t always the case and such inconsistency is one of many reasons why more and more people are through with Oscars. Sometimes they award cumulative work. Sometimes they award only particular performance that was nominated. That’s wishy washy.
Cases of nom, but no win, like Eddie Murphy or Burt Reynolds, are a different story… Murphy was nom’d for a musical, Reynolds for a drama about the porn industry. Stallone would be nom’d for his baby child, a way different impact, given he wouldn’t be blamed of “looking for recognition”. He just agreed to do the reboot of the franchise, accepted being a supporting player, and just gave the best of himself. It’s hardly to not praise him for doing so, and I think no one can really think, the word Oscar went through his mind when accepting the role, nor when he was performing it. That’s a big bonus in his chances.
Well said. Wouldn’t it be something if an actor without Oscar agenda when accepting the role actually won over all those Oscar bait agendas?
“They’re made for people out there. Rocky deserved to win Best Picture not because it would prove the most lasting, not because it was the highest achievement from an artistic perspective, but because for most people it was the Movie of the Year. It changed real lives. It made people happy. It did what movies are supposed to do. That kind of magic is rarely captured.”
Now she gets it!
Dangereous argument, Sasha. For a lot of people Avatar and The King’s Speech brought the magic on screen. I don’t really get the new direction of conversation that the Academy has to reunite with the public. And let’s not forget, the critics embraced The Social Network, the Academy went with the movie that made everyone happy. If they want to choose an entertaining and at the same time artistic movie (including a female protagonist) this year they can go with Mad Max: Fury Road.
The Social Network is a cold film about a non-sympathetic character, which you frankly want to end pretty fucked up. The King’s Speech is a warm film about a sympathetic character you can relate to. It’s just my opinion that I find TKS slightly superior overall, to TSN (I think they’re both masterpieces), but AMPAS going for TSN would hae been quite groundbreaking, specially in front of TKS which, let’s remember, was almost equally embraced by critics, and a b.o. hit on its own right.
This right here is a magical piece of writing.
If we look back, Oscar has a recent history of simply ignoring movies that were huge critical acclaims plus b.o. successes, and loved by audiences… The Matrix went on to just technicals, Hairspray 0 noms, Borat only Adapted Screenplay, The Dark Knight won Ledger’s ’cause they couldn’t ignore it, we could go on to more and more examples. Creed might not get to that level of love but it’s aiming to a more than decent critical reception and probably will be a 150-200 million domestic b.o. champ. So far, I’d say they won’t be able to deny the nom to Stallone as supporting but his win, will depend on how many other Oscar noms can this film earn. If it scores 5 or more, Stallone better writes his speech already.
“Rocky deserved to win Best Picture not because it would prove the most lasting, not because it was the highest achievement from an artistic perspective, but because for most people it was the Movie of the Year. It changed real lives. It made people happy. It did what movies are supposed to do. That kind of magic is rarely captured. ”
This. 1000 times this. In the year of pundit resistance to The Martian, in the year of Star Wars, Fury Road, Inside Out and Creed, everyone should read this. This is what Oscars need. They lost credibility with people (which manifests in plummeting ratings) because they don’t award movie magic anymore. It’s now all about importance and MC score. We already have “The Martian can’t win cause Carol has the highest MC!” convos everywhere. That really made so many people happy (sarcasm). Another huge dip for Oscar ratings right there. Oh, and for everyone who likes to bring up Transformers and MTV Awards to debates about populist movies…get over yourselves. We are talking about great, bone fide critical hit populist movies. Between them and another MC-hit- only, it’s about damn time that AMPAS pick great populist movie.
OK, so not gonna lie but absolutely gorgeous MBJ is the reason why I’m seeing Creed opening night. ♥
Oh, They award “movie magic”. They still handout the prize to similar feel-good, insanely popular movies like The Return of the King, Titanic, Slumdog Millionaire, and Argo. Doing so hasn’t stopped the dissipation of viewers.
People just don’t want to watch The Oscars like they used to, even though production values have risen, advertising has increased, industry importance has never waned. Rewarding feel-good movies doesn’t grab viewers away from all the other media distractions out there.
The Martian can go ahead and win Best Picture, but if it does, it will be derided far worse than Rocky ever has been. Not just because it will have won against similarly fantastic competition, but because there just isn’t enough emotional heft or style to it, and it’s way too laden with CGI to appeal to the Academy. It capably hit the right notes to a familiar tune, and the various nominations and tech wins will be more than enough to satisfy the industry, no Best Picture needed.
It’s the best popcorn flick I’ve seen this year – after Mad Max, anyways.
Slumdog Millionaire was not the Movie of the Year that people wanted to win. It was TDK. You can replace it with The Departed, a movie that people actually still care about. Argo also doesn’t fit the bill. Not every movie that makes over 100M fits the Movie Magic bill. So, no, they don’t award them nearly as often as you make it out to be.
They award them enough, and it doesn’t do zilch for ratings.
And you discredit Slumdog Millionaire as not meeting your criteria for MotY, that just because it made hundreds of millions of dollars worldwide, it doesn’t fit your bill – and then you point to TDK precisely because it DID haul in so much more money.
I’m not sure what you’re getting at, but I think you are stumping for The Martian to take home the prize. The Martian is not as accomplished as the Dark Knight on any level and it certainly isn’t worthy of Best Picture this year.
If it won, it would rank with past forgettable (highly profitable) Best Picture winners like The Sting, Going My Way, Kramer vs. Kramer, and Rain Man. It may even make “worst of” lists with the likes of other highly profitable “Movies of the Year” (according to paying customers) as The Greatest Show on Earth and Around the World in 80 Days.
Slumdog is one of the worst wins ever. Embarrassing on every level.
EASILY the best. Coogler and Jordan are becoming a seriously great duo. Sly getting another Oscar kinda makes me laugh, but he is about to get a fully deserved nomination for his great performance. No matter what else he’s done in his career, he’s never been as natural and convincing as when he plays Balboa.
Great piece. Loved Creed. I’m thinking it’s easily the best Rocky sequel ever made (although some will try to disqualify it).