A few years ago, before “Creed,” both of those assertions might have sounded ridiculous, but Jordan’s charisma in the title role, Ryan Coogler’s directing chops and Sylvester Stallone’s audience-pleasing instincts turned out to be a revolutionary combination.  “Creed II” affirms two great truths of our pop-cultural moment: that Michael B. Jordan is currently the ascendant American male movie star and that the revived, revised “Rocky” franchise — focused on the trials and triumphs of Adonis Creed, Rocky Balboa’s protégé and the son of his long-departed friend and rival — is the only heroic Hollywood multisequel narrative worth caring about. Meanwhile, Adonis has all the love and support in the world—from Bianca, who’s pursuing her music career even as she’s losing her hearing, from the woman who took him in and raised him as her own, Phylicia Rashad’s Mary Anne, and, of course, from Rocky. A fight doesn’t matter to us unless we care about who’s fighting, and “Creed II” makes us care about this young couple, and about this young man and how he lives with his father’s legacy, and about Rocky, who is played beautifully by Stallone. It's "Rocky IV 2" as "Creed" sequel revisits the 1985 Cold War classic 
 
 Sylvester Stallone and Michael B. Jordan in "Creed II." Creed II, directed by Steven Caple Jr. (who has made one previous movie feature, a 2016 skateboarding drama called The Land), is bluntly diverting: You can spend a few hours watching it and feel little pain, other than the occasional sympathetic spasm during the movie’s climactic, and at least semi-thrilling, fight sequence.
– "I wanna rewrite history." So says Adonis Creed (Michael B. Jordan) in Steven Caple Jr.'s Creed II, in which the boxer faces a challenge from the son of the man who killed his father, Apollo Creed, in Rocky IV. Good thing he has Rocky Balboa (Sylvester Stallone) behind him—or does he? What critics are saying: This new Rocky franchise "is the only heroic Hollywood multisequel narrative worth caring about," writes AO Scott at the New York Times, hailing "a terrific movie … that honors the cherished traditions of the genre while feeling like something new and exciting." He notes "the climactic fight arrives on a tide of feelings and ends with a flood of tears." Creed II "goes the distance, but it lacks the knockout punch of its 2015 and 1985 predecessors," writes Adam Graham at Detroit News. He argues the film sticks too closely to the expected formula. Real life boxer Florian Munteanu is "all brute force and no depth" as Viktor Drago, he adds, though an "excellent" Tessa Thompson powers scenes of Creed's home life. Yes, the film is formulaic. But "investing in a formula, making it breathe—that's the challenge, and Creed II meets it," writes Mick LaSalle. Even if you can predict the plot, "you can't imagine the emotion of it," he continues at the San Francisco Chronicle, describing a theater audience in "silent awe." In short, "Creed II makes us care." Stephanie Zacharek found it "reasonably entertaining," but not on the same level as Creed. "There are too many trifling ideas, and too much plot, stuffed into Creed II to make it the sleek powerhouse that its predecessor was," she writes at Time. Still, Jordan is "effortlessly likable" and "often shirtless," while a "charming and funny" Stallone "gets you through." (Check out more movie reviews here.)