Blu-ray Review Creed II

Review: ‘Creed II’ Delivers a Knockout Punch on 4K Blu-ray

March 12, 2019Ben MK



FEATURE: 
After taking on the villain role in Black Panther, Michael B. Jordan is back as the protagonist in Creed II. This time, however, he'll find his path to victory fraught with even more obstacles than the character's first bout in the ring.

Picking up not long after director Ryan Coogler's Creed, Steven Caple Jr.'s followup finds the son of legendary boxer Apollo Creed, Adonis Johnson (Jordan), ready to take that next big step — proposing to the love of his life, recording artist Bianca (Tessa Thompson). But when an old nemesis from "Unc" and trainer Rocky Balboa's (Sylvester Stallone) past, Ivan Drago (Dolph Lundgren), resurfaces, Adonis' plans for matrimonial bliss are derailed. Forced to defend his championship boxing title against a new and very formidable opponent — Drago's son, Viktor (Florian Munteanu) — Adonis must face the demons from his past while fighting for his future.

A worthwhile continuation of the franchise, what Creed II lacks in originality it more than makes up for with ample heavyweight drama and hard-hitting fight scenes. Suffice to say, Hollywood seldom makes underdog stories of this caliber nowadays, but Creed II is one such tale that moviegoers will have no trouble rooting for.

AUDIO & VISUALS: 
Creed II is a definite contender on 4K, thanks to a chiseled 2160p video encode and a top-of-its-class Dolby Atmos sound mix. Picture quality is outstanding, whether it's inside the ring or outside of it, with the arena lighting of the film's all-on-the-line climax stepping up as a heavyweight contributor to an already impressive, though albeit fairly low-key, image. Meanwhile, the sound design is no slouch either, easily selling the impact of every uppercut, jab and body blow, but remaining primarily dialogue and hip-hop beat-driven otherwise.

EXTRAS: 
Warner's two-disc 4K release includes a digital copy and a Blu-ray copy of the film. There are no special features on the 4K disc, but the following extras can be found on the Blu-ray disc:

  • Fathers & Sons (7:16) - The cast, crew and various professional boxers talk about how the relationship between fathers and their children permeates the movie.
  • Casting Viktor Drago (5:43) - A look at what Florian Munteanu brings to the role of Ivan Drago's son.
  • The Women of Creed II (5:52) - A look at what Tessa Thompson and Phylicia Rashad bring to their roles as Bianca and Mary Anne Creed.
  • The Rocky Legacy (15:02) - Dolph Lundgren hosts this look back at the legacy of the Rocky series, from the theme music to the original's place in film history as an iconic underdog story.
  • Deleted Scenes (9:46) - Four scenes ("Rocky's Eulogy for Spider Rico," "Max's Cheesesteak Restaurant," "Rocky Trains Kids" and "Locker Room").

Creed II is available from Warner Bros. Home Entertainment as of March 5th, 2019. The 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray features English Dolby Atmos, English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1, French, Spanish and Portuguese Dolby Digital 5.1, and English Dolby Digital 5.1 Descriptive Audio tracks. The film is presented with English SDH, French, Spanish and Portuguese subtitles. The total runtime is 2 hrs. 10 min.






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