There’s a great, chance metaphor that’s delivered by the new “Rocky” spinoff, “Creed,” when next-generation contender Adonis Johnson (Michael B. Jordan) hits the canvas in his longshot title bout. It’s a fall that “Donnie” was bound to take, never mind all the sage, mumbly advice he’s gotten from — who else? — Sylvester Stallone’s Rocky Balboa, his trainer and adoptive “unc.” Yet despite getting laid out in excruciatingly graphic detail, the kid somehow comes roaring back, not so much struggling to his feet as leaping. Which is exactly what this energetic, hugely entertaining film does for the four-decades-old franchise.
The movie reunites Jordan with “Fruitvale Station” director Ryan Coogler, and revolves around the potentially desperate, ultimately inspired idea that Rocky’s old showboatin’ frenemy Apollo Creed had an illegitimate son he never knew. Hard to say whether young Adonis got the eye of the tiger by nature or nurture; a prologue introduces him as a troubled kid rescued from juvie by Apollo’s widow (nicely cast Phylicia Rashad). All grown up, Adonis seems like “Fight Club” material, cutting loose in grungy Tijuana boxing venues by night, then slogging through his cubicle job by day. When his concerned stepmom and Apollo’s gym crew try to dissuade him from the ring, he packs up for Philly, determined to meet Rocky and get him in his corner.
Jordan brings emotional breadth to his legacy-freighted character, making Adonis a convincing jumble of youthful drive, immaturity, repressed hurt, and above all, his pop’s charismatic swagger. Meanwhile, likably game as Stallone was in going another few rounds for 2006’s “Rocky Balboa,” it’s nothing compared to how enjoyable he is — and affecting — in his new less-is-more supporting role. Comfortable, quietly retired Rocky isn’t sure he wants to train anyone, an ambivalence that sets Adonis on a pesky campaign to persuade him, and that gives Jordan and Stallone opportunity to develop a terrific, relaxed chemistry. (Their one-sided exchange about smartphone tech gets a big laugh.)
Impressively, Coogler manages the J.J. Abrams trick of crafting a movie that works on two levels, tending equally to nostalgists and a younger crowd. The film delivers the requisite echoes of signature “Rocky” training moments, and makes a meta, sunrise/sunset pleasure out of its triumphant climb of those iconic museum steps. And just when we think that the drama here is all about torch-passing, Coogler hands Rocky a juicy, moving challenge of his own.
At the same time, the audience doesn’t need to be obsessively clued into everything that’s come before. The references to Apollo’s “Rocky IV” death can be taken simply as richly tantalizing backstory. There’s certainly enough to keep us in the moment, starting with Adonis’s hip, engaging romance with edgy Bianca (Tessa Thompson, “Selma”), a musician with Adrian-esque devotion. He also gets a worthy, judiciously utilized opponent in “Pretty” Ricky Conlan (real-life heavyweight Tony Bellew), a legally embattled Liverpool fighter with the scary, sociopathic glare of a football hooligan.
No, the things these two warriors say to each other and to the boxing media don’t have the concussed groundedness of “Southpaw.” But this is a “Rocky” movie. And after a long, long stretch in which the series’ attrition had come to feel like even more of a bummer than intended — no more Mickey, no Apollo, no Adrian — the franchise has welcome new life. But instead of going by Rocky, he goes by Creed.
★ ★ ★ ½
CREED
Directed by Ryan Coogler. Written by Coogler and Aaron Covington. Starring Michael B. Jordan, Sylvester Stallone, Tessa Thompson. Boston Common, Fenway, suburbs. 133 minutes. PG-13 (violence, language, some sensuality).
Tom Russo can be reached at trusso2222@gmail.com.