Creed II - Barney's Incorrect Five Second Reviews

Not having seen the first Creed movie, I had a little trouble getting into some of the characters, but ultimately a formulaic boxing movie is still that and it's easy to play catch up. Good performances all around and an exciting final fight that delivers the goods is enough to give this movie more than a pass. My heart did go out to Michael B Jordan's main protagonist and he certainly carries the movie. I'm not sure I like the hearing-impaired singing g/f. I guess that's from the first movie so they're stuck with it? Both Stallone and Lundgren were good as coaches and filled their roles with a ton of gravitas. Although Lundgren's ghost of an ex-wife really was a little too melodramatic, and her scenes and appearances bordered on ridiculous. Good fight scenes are enough, but we're very far from having a great movie like Cinderella Man or The Fighter. In the end, it's a decent enough but there are better films to see right now.