Way back in 2015, Creed was a huge surprise, a Rocky spin-off that paid homage to the films that came before it while, at the same time, establishing its own identity.  After their acclaimed work in Fruitvale Station, Creed made a star out of Michael B. Jordan and definitely led to Ryan Coogler getting the chance to direct Black Panther.  It also brought an Oscar nomination for Sylvester Stallone, something that, before the film’s release, nobody thought would ever happen.

Well, we all knew that there would inevitably be a sequel.  Today, the trailer for Creed II was released and … well, to be honest, its looks pretty conventional.  Coogler did not write or direct the sequel.  Instead, the directing was handled by Steve Caple, Jr. while the script was written by Stallone himself.  In this one, Creed steps into the ring to fight the son of the man who killed his father.  It looks like the film is designed to be crowd pleaser but you have to wonder if it will have any of the attention to detail and the subtle wit that distinguished Coogler’s film.

Oh well.  At least it’s always enjoyable to watch Michael B. Jordan did his thing.

Here’s the trailer: