Creed II and Widows Reviews!

Creed II

4 stars

Creed II is a satisfying addition to the mostly-solid Rocky franchise. The fights are brutal, the training montages are thrilling, and the plot is straightforward but effective. While MBJ is top-notch as the title character, my favorite part of this film was probably the Drago family storyline. Ivan Drago didn't do much in Rocky 4 besides looking intimidating. He has the "I must break you" line, but besides that he's more of a cartoon. Here, even with limited screen time and sparse dialogue, Ivan and his son Viktor paint a pretty clear picture of what their life has been like the last 30 years. After Ivan lost to Rocky, he lost everything except his son. He now lives vicariously through Viktor, trying to reclaim his position as Russia's golden boy. The most emotional part of the final fight for me actually had to do with Viktor and his absent mother. Again, considering how little screen time the Drago family got, I was completely engaged in their storyline. Creed's journey was good as well but if you're familiar with the series, it's pretty clear where it's going and there aren't any tremendous surprises. I did enjoy Stallone's portrayal of the semi-autobiographical character of Rocky. Rocky is sort of a man out of time, from a different era. He's super old school and at one point even uses an address book and pay phone to attempt to call his son. I think that's always been part of the appeal of his character. He's kind of a bum, but he also knows it. He's at an age that he can acknowledge his flaws and outdated ways, but is also to stubborn to change. All to say, I really enjoyed the film. The themes of fatherhood and pride were familiar, but also refreshing. If they make a sequel, I'm not sure where they would go with it. Creed's storyline seems resolved and to bring in another challenger seems repetitive. I would be more interested in a Drago-based movie, but we will find out.

Widows

4 stars

Widows had a lot of buzz around it when it was in development, but then released without much fanfare or attention. Which is a same because it's a pretty terrific film. The cast is superb, some actors like Daniel Kaluuya and Colin Farrell, seemed to be having a great time chewing the scenery. The action and heist sequences were exciting and the plot had some unexpected twists and turns. I guess the only thing to hold agains this film is that it wasn't stylized or auteur focused as much as the critics wanted it to be. It's a well done thriller but might be too much of a mainstream heist film to get that oscar consideration. I throughly enjoyed the film. The only part that didn't work for me was a flashback sequence. It seemed to be inserted into the film to add relevancy and impact but it doesn't affect the plot and isn't referenced throughout the rest of the film so it was completely unnecessary. Besides that, if you're in the mood for an competent thriller with some compelling performances, this is definitely worth a watch.