Creed III is a knockout directorial debut for Michael B. Jordan, that further sets Creed in place to stand on his own power and leave the past franchise as the past. The rivalry here tops the likes of the ones that came before it and while delivering the usual melodrama from all involved, the acting saves this with a beautifully passionate and disastrous relationship between Jordan’s Adonis Creed and Jonathan Majors’ Damian Anderson. 

 

If Creed III proves two things: Jordan deserves his time behind the camera and that he and Majors have a long unpaved path ahead of them to collaborate on many more projects in the future. With gravitas and style, Jordan packs quite the punch with his emotional layers here and his direction while in the ring itself is unforgettable as it rivals the original Rocky in its delivery. 

 

The relationship between Creed and his daughter here was a phenomenal extra bit of attachment for the audience to gravitate towards and the idea of him being a father now has changed his aspirations as a fighter in the ring. The film feels real, apart from a few melodramatic moments that needed to be placed just to offer another reason for the two to fight one another in the Creed vs Anderson match-up. 

 

The relationships are well developed, the fighting is free flowing and beautifully choreographed and the ending lives a perfect conclusion to the Creed series, that if they were to stop now (which if the Box Office has anything to do with that decision, that certainly will not be the case) the franchise would be ending on a high - similarly to how the Rocky set of films went out on the wonderfully done Rocky Balboa all the way back in 2006. Creed III easily beats out the second film in the title match and ultimately delivers the first must-see movie of the year.