Hey, Everybody

Paul here…

One of the reasons I was so excited for Black Panther earlier this year was because Ryan. Coogler was directing and Michael B. Jordan had a major roll. I’m a huge fan of both of these guys, but I’ve been following Micheal B. Jordan’s career since his days playing poor, doomed Wallace on The Wire.

When Creed was announced my first thought was that this was going to be one movie too many. Rocky Balboa had been such a perfect send off for the franchise, why ruin it with another cash grab? But then I heard Ryan Coogler was directing and Michael B. Jordan was starring in the film, with Stallone returning as his mentor. Now they had my attention. Coogler’s first film was the excellent and tragic Fruitvale Station (also with Jordan as the star). Maybe this was going to be something interesting after all?

When they finally dropped the first trailer, they had me hook, line, and sinker. It looked fucking incredible. Somehow the final film managed to deliver and then some. I shouldn’t say “somehow” because I think it was the talent of the people involved that made Creed such an excellent film. Creed is arguably on par with the first Rocky film as the best of the franchise and this is coming from a lifelong fan of the Rocky series. To put into context how much I loved Creed, the film premiered just about a month before Star Wars Episode VII The Force Awakens and Creed was still my favorite film of that year.

Again when I heard Creed II was in development I was nervous. Ryan Coogler wasn’t returning (the new film is directed by Steven Caple Jr.) and I loved Creed so much I didn’t want an inferior sequel. It has a few things going for it behind the scenes, Cheo Hodari Coker the showrunner behind Netflix’s Luke Cage wrote the screenplay, so that doesnt hurt. However, once again the got me with the trailer. BIG TIME. I had no idea what the plot of this new was. Once the trailer reveals where the story is going, I dare any lifelong fan of the Rocky franchise not to have big old grin on your face.

This has definitely jumped to the top of the list of my most anticipated films of 2018. Check out the trailer here and see for yourself:

Look pretty fucking awesome, huh?

-Paul