First look–Jordan, Thompson, and Stallone return for more nostalgic drama and action in Creed II

We know Sylvester Stallone more for his action movies than any acting prowess. Yet he is Oscar material. Rocky, the movie and role that made him a household name, earned him Academy Award nominations for both acting and his screenplay. The latest Rocky movie, Creed, was his seventh film as boxer–now retired boxer–Rocky Balboa. His performance in that film and the first trailer for the eighth film in the franchise, Creed II, proves he still has the acting chops, and can give as emotional a performance as ever, and maybe one that could garner him another Oscar nod for the same role he created more than 40 years ago in 1976. And after his success in Black Panther, everyone is watching the career of star Michael B. Jordan, too. Has there been a bad Rocky movie? The first garnered ten Oscar nominations and three wins, including Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Film Editing. Stallone wrote each of Rocky II, III, IV, V, and Rocky Balboa in 2006. That changed with Creed, and the film proved the change-up was just fine with contributions from writers Ryan Coogler and Aaron Covington (check out our borg.com review here).

Like the first Creed film, Creed II looks more like a character-driven drama than just another boxing movie. This time Creed director Ryan Coogler hands the directing duties over to Steven Caple, Jr. with a script by Luke Cage’s Cheo Hodari Coker. Will this be as good as the last film without Black Panther director Coogler at the helm? An intriguing plus for this film is the re-emergence of the name Drago. The original Drago played by Dolph Lundgren killed Adonis Creed’s father Apollo in Rocky IV. Now his son, played by Florian Munteanu, seems to be back for a repeat performance.

The Rocky universe has turned into a “Who’s Who of the Marvel Cinematic Universe,” with Black Panther co-lead Michael B. Jordan (Killmonger) back as Creed, Thor: Ragnarok co-star Tessa Thompson (Valkyrie) as his new wife, and Guardians of the Galaxy II’s Stallone (Stakar Ogord) back as Rocky. Check out the first official poster for the film (above), and here’s the first trailer for Creed II: