CREED II : Tuesday 4th December 2018.

I saw 'CREED II' earlier this week, and this sports drama film probably needs little introduction. After all it is the sequel to 2015's highly acclaimed 'Creed' film as Directed and Written by Ryan Coogler and Co-Produced and starring Sylvester Stallone in his seventh turn as our titular pugilist hero Rocky Balboa. That film cost US$40M to make, grossed US$174M and picked up a whole slew of awards and nominations along the way. Now the team reunite for 'Creed II' the eighth film in the 'Rocky' franchise, but this time Directing duties are given over to Steven Caple Jnr. in only his second feature film outing as Director. Ryan Coogler takes an Executive Producer credit and Sylvester Stallone takes on the role once more as Rocky Balboa, Co-Wrote the Screenplay and also Co-Produces. Released in the US on 21st November, the film has so far recovered US$100M from its US$50M Budget investment, and has generated generally positive Reviews.

The film opens up somewhere in a drab and dreary Ukraine. It is early morning, and woken up from his slumber on the sofa is Viktor Drago (Florian Munteanu). The man who did the wake up call is his father Ivan Drago (Dolph Lundgren) as he looks out of his apartment window on to the grey city scape before him. We then cut to Las Vegas and a bout at the MGM Grand involving Adonis Creed (Michael B. Jordan) and Danny 'Stuntman' Wheeler (Andre Ward) for the WBC (World Boxing Council) World Heavyweight Championship title. His trainer Rocky Balboa (Sylvester Stallone) gives Adonis a final pep talk, before his girlfriend Bianca Taylor (Tessa Thompson) has the final word. Needless to say Adonis wins the title and is crowned World Heavyweight Boxing Champion.

With his new found fame, Adonis decides to propose marriage to Bianca, which she accepts. Bianca later suggests to Adonis that they move away from Philadelphia and return to Los Angeles where she can concentrate on her escalating singing career, and he can still train and be based there. However, Philadelphia has been good to him, he is established, is known, and furthermore, and perhaps most importantly, Rocky lives there, and there is a great sense of loyalty between the pair.

In the meantime, Ivan Drago, a former Russian boxer who killed Adonis's father, Apollo Creed (Carl Weathers seen in flashback), in the ring thirty-three years earlier, sees a chance to regain the glory that was taken from him as a result of his loss to Rocky Balboa in Moscow later that same year by pitting his son, Viktor Drago, against Adonis. Boxing Promoter Buddy Marcelle (Russell Hornsby) has been maintaining a watchful eye on Viktor's progress in the ring in recent times, and when he feels that Viktor is ready, he pitches the idea to both sides.

Ivan and Viktor both arrive in Philadelphia even though the bout has not yet been agreed to. Ivan visits Rocky in his restaurant one evening unannounced. The pair eye off against each other for the first time in more than thirty years. Ivan says that he returned to Russia a broken man after his fight in which he lost to Rocky, and that Russia turned its back on him. He has nothing . . . . except his son now. Ivan goads Rocky by saying that his son Viktor will break his boy. When Adonis mentions the idea to Rocky, he refuses to support the notion, and says that he'll be going into the ring without him therefore. Feeling betrayed and dejected, Adonis leaves with Bianca for LA where they take out a luxurious apartment overlooking the city skyline, and close to Apollo's widow and Adonis' adoptive mother Mary Anne Creed (Phylicia Rashad).

The day of the bout with Drago is quickly upon them. Adonis has been training in LA with Tony 'Little Duke' Evers (Wood Harris), the son of Apollo's, and later Rocky's, trainer. Bianca meanwhile has announced that she is pregnant. With so much going on his life - marriage proposal, baby on the way, recently relocated to LA, newly crowned World Champ, new trainer, no Rocky - Adonis rushes into his world title defence bout with Drago.

Drago is clearly the far superior Boxer, in terms of his height, weight, reach, strength and build. Adonis is ill prepared and comes off worse, and badly injured as well. Maintaining a bedside vigil, Bianca and Little Duke receive news that the Boxing Governing Body has upheld the decision to disqualify Drago for punching Adonis while he was still down, so allowing the World Champ to still retain his crown. Viktor and Ivan return to Russia where their popularity soon grows on a wave of national support.

Afters several weeks of recuperation in hospital Adonis is released with a frenzy of the media in waiting. Back at his apartment over the following weeks and months he becomes increasingly distant from Bianca. His body is still hurting, his confidence has taken a blow, and his mind is on other things. Mary Anne reaches out to Rocky in the hope that with his support and advice he will pull through his personal crisis. Rocky arrives at Mary Anne's palatial house, and waits for Adonis to arrive expecting to meet with his mother. Instead the pair say a few candid words to each other and make up their differences. Rocky agrees to train Adonis in preparation for a rematch with Drago which the Boxing Governing Body are putting pressure on Adonis to name an opponent or forfeit his title, due to the time that has now lapsed between world title contests.

Meanwhile back in Russia at a grand dinner at which Viktor and Ivan are the centre of attention by the gathered guests and dignitaries, in waltzes Ludmilla Drago (Brigitte Neilsen), the former wife of Ivan and mother to Viktor, who deserted them both soon after Ivan's loss to Rocky. Viktor can hardly contain himself out of anger towards seeing his mother all proud, glamorous and clearly well off while they have nothing. He walks out of the dinner quickly followed by Ivan, much to the chagrin of the other guests. Meanwhile back in LA Bianca has given birth to a girl, whom they name Amara.

Viktor continues to goad Adonis, while Ivan puts his son through a relative pedestrian albeit fairly brutal training regime. Rocky, on the other hand, drives Adonis out to the middle of the Californian desert to a run down dust bowl of an outdoor gym with makeshift equipment and a boxing ring. Rocky tells Adonis, that it is a place where fighters come to be 'reborn'.

What follows is the obligatory training montage that sees Adonis beating the sand and the dust with a sledgehammer with all his might, running to keep up with Rocky driving the car ahead, getting pummelled to the stomach with a medicine ball, strengthening his neck by lifting weights with his head, shadow boxing with the camp fire at dusk and sparring with an opponent in the ring with each man having to maintain a foot inside a tyre. This brutal regime goes on for seemingly a few weeks, but eventually Adonis has got his mojo back, he's in great shape and ready for the fight of his life (predictably).

The rematch is staged in Moscow, amidst all the glitz and glamour that Russia can muster and in front of a capacity crowd all cheering on Drago. Early on Adonis, in a more controlled and focused manner that his first bout against Drago, is on an equal footing with the Russian, exchanging blows one for one. Drago wins the second round by punches landed and the number of times Adonis falls to the mat.

And so it continues, into Rounds three, four, five and six. Drago has always won his fights by a knock out early on, and so is unaccustomed to going the distance with a worthy adversary, and someone who can take a pummelling and still keep coming back. A fact that Adonis plays to his advantage. In Round 10, after being floored again, Adonis gets mightily pissed off at himself and barely rising up off the mat musters the strength and the inner rage to let his punches rain down on Drago, sending him to the mat twice.

Ludmilla, who had been sitting ringside with other supporters of Viktor, departs when the fortunes of this title bout start leaning very much in Adonis' favour. Viktor sees this and is caught off-balance emotionally. Ivan also noted her prompt departure, but has now seemingly reconciled the fair-weathered nature of those supporters who had run Ivan out of Russia originally thirty years before. With Viktor cornered and Adonis landing multiple strikes without any retaliation by his opponent, Rocky watches in disbelief as Ivan steadily inches his way to where his son is cornered and throws in the towel, conceding the fight to Adonis to ensure his son isn’t seriously injured or worse.

Though Viktor is ashamed by his defeat, Ivan embraces his son motioning that it's OK that he lost and that he put up an admirable fight. Bianca, also watching from a ringside seat enters the ring to celebrate with Adonis who motions for Rocky to join them. Rocky stops himself from joining the celebrations telling Adonis that it is 'his time' and so he takes a seat and watches them from outside the ring. Sometime after the fight and back in LA, Adonis visits the gravesite of his father to make peace with him and for carrying the heavy burden of his legacy. Ivan and Viktor are seen jogging through the streets back in Ukraine. Rocky visits his estranged son Robert (Milo Ventimiglia) in Vancouver and meets with his young grandson Logan, for the first time. 

For the eighth film in the 'Rocky' franchise this instalment is light on genuine surprises and follows a tried and tested, and predictable, formula. Champion Boxer has crisis of confidence, check; has inner demons he must overcome, check; gets beaten up, loses and has a rematch, check; must face off against a formidable opponent against the odds, check; undergoes a brutal training regime seen in montage, check; goes the full ten rounds in the World Title fight despite being battered, bruised, bloody and broken, check; slo-mo body and facial blows, check; but wins the day and is victorious, check; and the principle characters all have their own little side story to deal with along the way too, check! Despite the predictable formulaic nature of this franchise as described, it is nonetheless a well executed sequel to 'Creed' that has strong performances from Jordan and Stallone once more especially, the fight scenes are well choreographed and excitingly shot from a myriad of angles, and the film has heart and conviction that invests you in the characters, their lives, challenges, triumphs and emotions. Certainly worth the price of your ticket.

'Creed II' warrants three claps of the Odeon Online clapperboard from a possible five claps.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

'THE EXPENDABLES' - archive from 18th August 2010.

'THE EXPENDABLES' which I saw earlier in the week has been long awaited, eagerly anticipated and much hyped since it was made known that Sylvester Stallone was amassing an ensemble cast the like of which is seldom seen on the big screen together anymore, and, is paying tribute to the classic action movies of the 80's that many of the assembled cast starred in and made their names in back in the day! The Screenplay was written by Stallone, he stars as the head honcho of said 'Expendables' and he takes on Directing duties too. With a budget of US$82M this film grossed US$275M and opened up at number one at the Box Office in the USA, UK, China & India, and as we know has so far spawned two sequels and a total combined Box Office haul of US$791M, with 'Expendables 4' announced.

Stallone's Triple 'R' playbook of Rocky, Rambo and now Ross (Barney Ross his elite mercenary leader for hire and king pin of 'The Expendables') all have one thing in common - they enjoy a fight and generally come out on top! And so it is with his merry band of highly skilled, accomplished, and deadly mercenary sidekicks that takes the best of the action hero genre; big ticket actors of yesteryear who still have their mojo's intact; and adds a good dose of blades, guns, grenades and gadgets with a sprinkle of humour and wraps it up with tongue firmly planted in cheek as its nods heroically and enthusiastically at the movies I grew up with!

In this case those heroes are Jason Statham (Lee Christmas - knives), Jet Li (Yin Yang - martial arts), Dolph Lundgren (Gunner Jensen - sniper), Terry Crews (Hale Caesar - heavy weapons), Randy Couture (Toll Road - demolition) with Mickey Rourke (Tool - tattooist), Steve Austin as Randy Paine, Arnold Schwarzenegger as Trench Mauser, Bruce Willis as Mr. Church, and Eric Roberts as bad guy James Munroe.

Ross and his crew are engaged by the mysterious Mr. Church to overthrow a Dictator on a small island state (Vilena) in the Gulf of Mexico. On arrival The Expendables learn that The Dictator (General Gaza) is being kept in power to shield the profiteering exploits of an ex-CIA Officer James Munroe, who is holding hostage the daughter of the General as bargaining collateral and security. As more is discovered about the link between Munroe and Garza and why Mr. Church is so interested in this small island and what Munroe is up to, so the action ramps up, shit gets blown up, the body count goes up and it all wraps up nicely in the end.

This is good honest to goodness mindless entertainment that is a welcome throw back to the action heroes, the action films and the action nonsense of the 80's. Don't expect any more than that, but you can expect to be wildly entertained with a good dose of blood & guts, humour, excitement and adrenaline pumping action. Furthermore, to see Stallone, Willis & Schwarzenegger on the big screen in the same frame chewing up the dialogue in spades is worth the price of your ticket alone, and truly a rare moment in cinema history.

If you have yet to see 'The Expendables' and grew up like me on a diet of action movie fare with these heroes of the big screen,  rent or download the three and watch them back to back for a slice of nostalgia & some gritty no holds barred action! Great stuff!

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

THE EXPENDABLES 3 - Tuesday 19th August 2014.

Reading like a 'Who's Who' of Hollywood heavy hitters, Barney Ross is at it again with his likable gang of mercenaries doing what they do best in 'THE EXPENDABLES 3' - which I saw last night.

I've said it before and I'll say it again - just seeing these action stars of yesteryear and this year up on screen together, chewing up the scenery, guns blazing, and clearly having a damn good time during production which is evident on screen - is worth the price of your ticket alone. Screenwriter again for this outing, principle mega star, and leader of 'The Expendables' is Sylvester Stallone playing the lovable rogue Barney Ross. He is one again joined by Jason Statham (Lee Christmas) as his right hand man, Arnold Schwarzenegger as Trench in his biggest Expendables role to date, Dolph Lundgren as Gunnar Jensen the strong silent type, Jet Li as Yin Yang back for more martial arts mayhem as only he can, Terry Crews as Hale Caesar, and Randy Couture as Toll Road.

Needless to say the opening scene (like every Bond movie before) starts off with a bang as our Expendables crew lift newcomer Wesley Snipes (Doc) from a heavily guarded prison train in between one heavily guarded prison where he has served eight years already and another heavily guarded fortress somewhere in deepest darkest Russia. With the use of an agile helicopter piloted by Ross and lots of impressive weaponry, our boys overcome adversity and Doc is rescued.

 On the way home our intrepid mercenaries have to make a little side trip to some downtrodden third world country to collect a package, where more mayhem ensues, there are big explosions, rapid machine gun fire, impressive vehicle stunts, overhead cranes, shipping containers and more shit going down than you could poke a M16 at! It is here that an unwelcome discovery is made in the form of one Mel Gibson playing villain in the piece, Conrad Stonebanks - former co-founder of The Expendables who has subsequently gone rogue and become a ruthless international arms dealer who is after the same package as Ross and his cohorts. Ross believes that Stonebanks is dead by his own hand many years earlier - but not so it would seem, and as the two eyeball each other we know that revenge and closure for either is on the radar front & centre!

Realising that their new adversary is bigger and mightier than the dwindling and ageing Expendables Ross folds up his crew and tells them to ride off into the sunset and enjoy their new forced retirement - alive at least!

The next set up is Ross catching up with underworld talent scout Kelsey Grammer (Napoleon Bonaparte) to recruit new, younger, tech savvy and disposable blood to The Expendables to capture Stonebanks and deliver him to the CIA alive - represented this time not by Bruce Willis' Church, but by Harrison Ford's Drummer. Along the way recruited to the fold are the new bloods - Antonio Banderas as Galgo, Kellen Lutz at Smilee, Victor Ortiz as Mars, Glen Powell as Thorn and token ass-kickin' female Ronda Rousey as Luna. Watch out for Banderas because he hams it up beautifully, and clearly is having  great time doing so!

After the new gang are recruited they head off to where Stonebanks is holed up - some fictitious eastern European no-hope war torn country where the new Expendables and joined by the old Expendables and Drummer in the sky doing helicopter acrobatics with Trench and Yin Yang riding shotgun . . . or machine gun! This is the climatic ending that sees helicopter and tank assaults on a booby-trapped one-time office tower where the Expendables are housed, close quarter hand to hand combat, more artillery used and abused than you can image, explosions aplenty, a rapidly rising body count, and jaw dropping action backed up by quick quips and one liners that is sure to raise a smile. And then of course there is the final showdown between Ross and Stonebanks!

Having grown up with these guys in the 80's and the action films they made, this is an updated throw back to that era. It's heavy on the fire power, heavy on the body count, heavy on the ego's and heavy on the quips but it's all good fun, and I found myself chuckling and laughing out loud several times. When Arnie shouts 'Get them to the Choppa' you know he's having a blast, and when Ford says of Church (the Bruce Willis character he replaces from the previous two films) - 'he's out of the picture' - you'll understand the double meaning in this comment that I'm sure Stallone wrote in especially when Willis exited stage left!

Directed by only second time helmer Aussie Patrick Hughes - this is good fun, totally over the top, and good on Stallone for pulling such a talent pool for our entertainment and serving up a dose of nostalgia. For the fourth instalment we should expect to see Cage, Segal, and Chan in there too, and maybe Danny Trejo as the villain - now that would be something! There are those that will dismiss this for a host of reasons, but three films in, Hollywood A-listers lining up to star, and a fourth film announced - The Expendables must be doing something right, and clearly there is an audience!

  

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

THE EXPENDABLES 2 - archive from 11th September 2012

Saw 'EXPENDABLES 2' last night and loved it! This is great mindless entertainment that combines the best of 80's action movies, star power, fire power, quick witted humour and a body count that does itself proud. If you were brought up on a diet of 'Rocky', 'Rambo', 'Terminator' and 'Die Hard' as I was back in the day then you're gonna love this! 

To see Stallone, Schwarzenegger and Willis on the big screen together chewing up the scenery and clearly loving it is worth the price of entry alone. Throw in Statham, Lundgren, Norris, JCVD, and Li makes this a priceless outing. The dynamic trio are great together and memorable for their egos, excesses and enduring humour and I laughed out loud more times that I can remember. 

Directed by Simon West and co-written for the screen by Sylvester Stallone, this time around Mr. Church (Willis) enlists Barney Ross (Stallone) and his Expendable Team to retrieve a package from a crashed plane somewhere in the former USSR - seems simple enough and a good ol' paycheque at the end. But of course, things don't go too simply as they had at first thought and one of Barney's men is taken hostage in return for the package . . . or the hostage gets it!

Handing over the package the hostage gets it anyway, and so now revenge is on the agenda and the retrieval of the package which tells of the secret location of a plutonium storage mine deep in the Russian mountains, where the local men are being forced to work and their families persecuted along the way. The lynch-pin of this mob of gangsters, crims and miscreants is aptly named Vilain (JCVD) who must be halted before the plutonium gets into the wrong hands and more widespread damage is caused on a scale even bigger than the Expendables!

Also starring Jason Statham, Jet Li, Dolph Lundgren, Chuck Norris, Liam Hemsworth, Randy Couture, and Terry Crews, this is a winning formula, a huge cast doing what they do best, and a treat for movie geeks remembering the good old days of action yore! They don't make 'em like this anymore . . . unless you're Expendable! Brilliant . . . for all the wrong reasons! Bring on 'E3' . . . and of course they are - out on 14th August 2014 at a big screen new you, and Previewed in 'What's new in Odeon's this week - Thursday 14th August 2014'

-Steve, at Odeon Online-