After the first trailer hit the internet, there was plenty of excitement for the return of Adonis Creed to the big screen in “Creed 2”. Many people were looking forward to Creed versus Drago round two, and the film did not let the fans down.

Building off the story line of “Rocky 4”, Ivan Drago has returned with his son, Viktor Drago. The last time Ivan was on the big screen, he lost in the championship fight to Rocky Balboa (who is now Adonis’s trainer) after killing Apollo Creed, Adonis’s father, during an exhibition fight.

After the loss to Rocky, Drago was run out of his home country of Russia, as well as left by his wife. He raised a son by alone, who knew nothing but boxing. During this time Adonis grew into quite the boxer himself and fought his way up to the world champion title. He and Drago have two fights during the film, one of which Drago was about to win but is disqualified from a late punch, and another where Adonis forced Ivan to throw in the towel after Viktor could not take anymore in the tenth round.

The story of the movie was amazing. The main point of the story is not Adonis avenging his father’s death, but him avenging himself after his first loss to Viktor. Viktor obliterated him in front of the whole world, but despite that fact, he remained champion. Adonis wanted to prove himself as the champion, to rebuild his reputation.

While still building up his reputation, you can also see the tension of Viktor’s father killing Apollo, especially during the weigh in scene, where Ivan just mentioned the name of his father, Adonis lost his temper.

Another part of the film that is superior to the first film is the role of Rocky. While this still is a Rocky Franchise, in the first “Creed” film he played a much more prominent role. Because of this you become distracted and neglect to pay as much attention to Adonis. In this film, the focus is much more on Creed, even while Rocky is on screen.

One of the aspects that was enjoyable about the movie was the connections between “Rocky 4” and “Creed 2”. Ivan was run out of Russia after his loss to Rocky, and the first time he was invited back was when Viktor put Creed in the hospital after their first fight. Another prominent Rocky reference was showcased after Adonis lets go of Rocky as his trainer, and takes his father’s son as his trainer.

However, the movie was made when Viktor realized that he was fighting for the wrong reason. His father only wanted him to fight Adonis to regain his reputation in Russia. At first, Viktor obliges, not realizing what it is he is fighting for. He understood this at the dinner with the Russians, which made him angry. The mere presence of his mother infuriated him, leaving him conflicted about the fight. Through this, you can also see the character development of Ivan. Formerly obsessed with getting back to the top of the world of boxing, Ivan was not thinking about what he was doing to his son. When Viktor started to lose during the fight, his mother left him again, spurring Ivan’s revelation that he was using his son for the wrong reason. Instead of letting Viktor get pummeled and possibly killed, Ivan quit and finally accepted the defeat, affirming that he would not allow Russia to abandon his son like Russia abandoned him.

All in all, the film is easily a top movie in the Rocky Franchise. If you have not seen all of the franchise films including “Creed 2”, you’re truly missing out. I recommend going online and renting them, and going to see this movie in theaters. It is worth it.