Rushed scenes hamper boxing movie

By George Gust

“Creed III” is the follow up to the revived “Rocky/Creed” franchise. After a brilliant first entry in 2015’s “Creed” and middling sequel “Creed II” it’s now star Michael B. Jordan’s turn in the director’s chair.

Reminiscent to the way Sylvester Stallone wrote the first Rocky, Jordan aims to put his creative vision into “Creed II” but would this new direction prove to be a fresh reinvention to the franchise that started with such strong performer empowerment.

Adonis Creed (Jordan) has been thriving in both his career and family life, but when a childhood friend and former boxing prodigy (Jonathan Majors) resurfaces, the face-off is more than just a fight.

“Creed III” is a visceral experience of a boxing movie. As the popularity of the sport is as low in public opinion for the past few decades there’s always drama to be mined from the mano y mano conflict that boxing presents. In this regard, Jordan has taken the drama and created a unique way of presenting that conflict in a visual way that re- minds of the more heightened style of Japanese anime.

When we get those heightened and visually dynamic scenes “Creed III” is riding high, but the plotting and pacing of the picture feel unbalanced and hamper the overall impact of the story. In this film we’re introduced to a character from Adonis’ past in Majors character, but for long stretches of the runtime his story arc feels rushed through and not given the full weight that Marjors’ impressive screen presence requires. The result is a movie that ends up feeling overstuffed and rushed at times. However whenever we get those crowd pleasing moments, some of those nagging issues fall by the wayside in favor of the engaging sequences featuring two of the more exciting actors of their generation.

Overall, “Creed III” is thrillingly original entry into the franchise that may have had too much footing in the past. Notable is the absence of Stallone who does not appear in the film for the first time in the franchise, but when viewed as a more standalone entry “Creed III” is able to deliver a fun and engaging theatrical experience even though some of the story progression feels glossed over at times.

“Creed III” is rated PG-13 for intense sports action, violence and some strong language.

3.8 out of 5 stars

Answers on Page 19

3.8 out of 5 stars

To reach George Gust for a comment on this review, please e-mail gust.george@gmail.com

OSP among those to get a grant Crossword Puzzle

Patrick Flick, Executive Director of the Shakespeare Theatre Association (STA) and Mark Edelman, founder and president of Theater League, Inc, a Kansas City, Missouri based contributor to the performing arts, announced today that the League will be gifting thirty-five Shakespeare Theatres across the United States and internationally with a grant of $255,000 in general operating support. These non-restricted gifts of either $5,000 or $10,000 each based on budget size will be awarded in 2023 to STA- member producing theaters with budgets between $100,000 and $1,400,000, including Oklahoma Shakespeare in the Park. An award of $5,000 was also made to the Shakespeare Theatre Association itself.

“As regular contributors to the Heart of America Shakespeare Festival in Kansas City—a long-time STA member--we were looking to expand our support of nonprofit organizations with similar goals and objectives,” explained Edelman. “That led us to STA and Patrick, who helped us Identify the mid-level Shakespeare producing organizations we wanted to fund.”