Creed II

Front Row at the Movies by Shirrel Rhoades

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Lord help us, it’s another “Rocky” movie. But this time around they’re passing it off as a “Creed” movie.

As you’ll recall, Rocky Balboa (Sylvester Stallone) fought World champion boxer Apollo Creed (Carl Weathers) in the first “Rocky” film. Creed stuck around in “Rocky II,” “Rocky III” and “Rocky IV,” becoming Rocky’s friend.

There were six “Rocky” movies before the franchise shifted its focus in 2015 to the son of Apollo Creed. In “Creed,” Rocky agreed to train Donnie Johnson A/K/A Adonis Creed (Michael B. Jordan).

Now Adonis is back in “Creed II,” the eighth film in the never-ending Rocky saga. The story has Adonis stepping into the ring with the son of Ivan Drago (Dolph Lundgren), the Russian fighter who killed his father in an exhibition match.

Of course, Rocky is there in young Creed’s corner as he takes on Viktor Drago (Florian Munteanu).

A note of irony: Ivan Drago’s wife and Viktor’s mother is played by Stallone’s ex-wife Brigette Nielsen.

Rounding out the cast is Terresa Thompson (“Thor: Ragnarok”) as Adonis’s love interest, Phylicia Rashad (TV’s “The Cosby Show”) as his stepmother, and Milo Ventimiglia (TV’s “This Is Us”) as Rocky’s wayward son.

To that card you can add cameos by boxing notables Sugar Ray Leonard, Jacob “Stitch” Duran, Roy Jones Jr., Michael Buffer, and Evander Holyfield.

“Creed II” is squaring off for a fight this week at Tropic Cinema.

This new film was directed by up-and-comer Steven Caple Jr. (“Prentice-N-Fury’s Ice Cream Adventure”) because previous “Creed” director Ryan Coogler was tied up with Marvel’s “Black Panther” blockbuster. Instead, Coogler executive produced “Creed II.”

Keeping his hand in, Sylvester Stallone wrote the screenplay with an assist by Juel Taylor.

Sly Stallone talks about passing on the torch. “In the last one you face death, you face mortality, and in this one, he’s finally completely alone. The only thing he has left is this young man, so he’s now a part of the Creed universe. The Rocky universe, it’s really gone, it’s left in the graveyard.”

But, as they say, you can’t keep a good man down. Expect to see Rocky return if there’s ever a “Creed III.”

Email Shirrel: srhoades@aol.com