 It's a bucked sponge, but you've felt this before. Hey guys, this is my review for Creed II, a film that I actually had a lot of anticipation for. I enjoyed Creed. Admittedly, the formula was pretty much exactly the same as Rocky, and the boxing person that he fought at the end had almost no development. But I still really enjoyed that film. It's a personal film between Michael B. Jordan's character, his rise, his fight, his own demons, his past. Sylvester Stallone giving a fantastic performance as Rocky Balboa, and his whole fight with cancer and kind of just finding a will to live and helping train Michael B. Jordan. He had a lot of great personal themes in that film. Also, Ryan Coogler did some fantastic camera work. He added a lot of new ideas to how to film a boxing movie. The sequel, The Guy Who Takes Over for Ryan Coogler, doesn't really do anything different. If anything, it's like watching Southpaw. That's the best way to describe it, because Southpaw was a boxing movie that had fantastic acting, but the most bare bones basic story that you've seen a hundred times. And absolutely no interesting camera work. And on top of that, it also heavily borrows from another movie. I'm not going to say its name, but Michael B. Jordan and Sylvester Stallone still have great chemistry together. And admittedly, the reason for him wanting to fight Ivan Drago's son is actually pretty good. And an aspect that I actually was really hoping for, and they delivered on that, the relationship between Ivan Drago and his son, Victor Drago, actually develops. It doesn't have as much time as it needed to, but you have a reason for caring about them. You see that their reason isn't just to beat him, to break him. But there is a history, there's a past, there's this sort of shame that Ivan is trying to get his son out of that he got himself into when he lost Rocky 30 years ago. The fact that they're actually making the most ridiculous Rocky movie a dramatic set piece for this film is hilarious. Again, the idea that they're using the fact that someone died in a boxing match as a means into a film like this is still a funny, funny aspect. But it's delivered well, but again, the camera work, the just direction of the film. And actually, there's not that much heart in this film. You really don't feel the intensity, the yeahness that you felt in the first film. And it's not because the acting is any worse and it's not because the story is any better. If anything is very similar to that of four, it's just the fact that there really isn't this drive. And the fact that it's heavily predictable. I basically guessed what the movie was going to be in the first 10 minutes. And I was right. When you don't have those creative elements and those kind of new ideas to add to something that has been an extremely well-based formula, you are going to get a competent film, but you're not going to get something that's going to be super memorable or overly enjoyable. It's just going to be okay. That's all right, I guess. And that's basically what I feel Crete 2 is. It's all right. It's not superb. It's not going to stand out compared to the first film. The best part, honestly, is Ivan Drago and Victor Drago. In terms of their relationship, it needed way more time to really become a thing. But when these two fight each other, the film is trying to make you care about both of them. You may almost make you want both of them to win and you don't want either to lose. Because it makes it as though that they say that he has nothing to lose, Victor being he has nothing to lose. But really, he does. He is trying to win the admiration of his father while his father is trying to win back the admiration of the Russian people. And just the honor and gratitude that he had back in the past. It's not the worst. Stallone definitely has his writing all over this, but it's not stand out. And the lack of interesting camera work is heavily present when you watch this film, especially compared to the first one. So in the end, I'm going to give Crete 2 a 4 out of 7. It's a competent film, but that's it. It's not going to be stand out. And in comparison to the first film, it just does not match up. Anyways, guys, that's all for me. I hope you enjoyed this review. If you did, leave a like and if you're interested in more, maybe subscribe. Otherwise, I'll see you guys next time.